It was a shame,
she said, that my uncle, "the Reverend," should send all his children
here, while he and his wife went taking their travels and their pleasure
all about to those gay foreign places!

Grandmamma talked about it in quite a different way. She told me how ill
my aunt had been, so ill that my uncle had been obliged to take her away
from England for the whole winter. And she said that now they had left
the place on the beautiful Swiss lake, and were going to try some
German baths. Only they could not take the children there, so they were
to come and stay at the Park for a month or too, the while.

I thought this would be very nice, and I began to ask all sorts of
questions about Harry and Lottie, and Alick and Murray, and Bertie and
the baby. How funny it would seem when the nursery was so full! I
thought the day would never come. But it did. The carriage was sent off
to the station, and in due time it came back, quite full to overflowing
with children!

There was a good deal of shyness at first, when we all stood in a row,
and looked at each other, answering grandmamma's questions seriously,
and feeling very odd. But that was only the first evening. Next day we
were quite happy and comfortable, had a very merry breakfast, and then a
delightful ramble about the gardens and orchards. Of course, I was only
one of the little ones, coming in between Alick and Murray, feeling very
small beside Lottie and Harry. Yet we were all very good friends, and
Lottie soon told me that she thought it would be very nice to have a
girl to talk to, and not only boys. This remark pleased me, though when
I thought of Bobbie, it sounded rather strange. Indeed, I am not sure
that I was not a little too fond of boys' play.

I remember feeling rather disappointed one day when she said to me in
the garden--

"Sissy, let's come and have a nice quiet walk together, and leave the
boys to play by themselves."

[Illustration: GOING TO THE WARS.]

Now, three of the boys were just preparing for a military march, one
with a bright flag, another with a trumpet, and another with a
sword-stick, so-called; and there was a most refreshing prospect of
shouting, stamping, and huzzahs! Do you wonder that I turned away rather
unwillingly?

However, Lottie's confidences soon made up for it all. Such beautiful
stories Lottie could tell! When she began to talk about the Alps, and
the blue lake and the mountain flowers, I thought it seemed almost