er; "it's so
dull being with George, he's always collecting things. The last time I
saw him he was on his knees cleaning up a dingy old picture he'd just
bought. Fanny stood beside him with a soapy flannel. She looked quite
religious; she was so grave. I saw a red cabbage in the picture and a
pot of porter, the froth extremely fine. 'I hope,' said George, very hot
after his exertions, 'that when you are of age you will follow in my
steps, and endow our common country with some of these priceless----'
'Common,' interrupted Mrs. Jannaway. 'Common country, do I hear aright,
George Crayshaw?' (I don't love that old lady _much_.) 'George,' I said,
for I pitied him for having a mother-in-law, 'when I get my money I
shall pay a man to paint another old picture for you, as a companion to
that. There shall be three mackerel in it, very dead indeed; they shall
lie on a willow-pattern plate, while two cock-roaches that have climbed
up it squint over the edge at them. There shall also be a pork-pie in
it, and a brigand's hat. The composition will be splendid.' I took out
my pocket-book and said, 'I'll make a mem. of it now.' So I did, and
added, 'Mem.: Never to have a mother-in-law, unless her daughter is as
pretty as Fanny Crayshaw.'"

The little boys were now allowed to have tools and go on with their
carving, still seated on the ground. The girls took out their tatting,
and talk went on.

"Mrs. Walker has just been saying that she cannot bear carving, and
pictures of dead things," observed Barbara. "So, Cray, she will think
you right to despise those your brother buys. And, Johnnie, she wishes
to know about our pictures."

"And those great sentences too," added Emily. "What do they mean?"

"The big picture is Dover," said little Jamie, "and that Britannia
sitting on the cliff, they cut out of _Punch_ and stuck on. You see she
has a boot in her hand. It belongs to our Sham memory that father made
for us."

"It's nearly the same as what Feinangle invented," Johnnie explained.
"The vowels do not count, but all the consonants stand for figures. Miss
Crampton used to make the kids so miserable. She would have them learn
dates, and they could not remember them."

"Even Barbara used to cry over the dates," whispered Janie.

"You needn't have told that," said Barbara sharply.

"But at first we altered the letters so many times, that father said he
would not help us, unless we made a decree that they should stay as they
were fo