en; I haven't any appetite," Beth answered casually.
"What did you dream last night?"

"I dreamt about crocodiles," Harriet averred.

"A crocodile's a reptile," said Beth, "and a reptile is trouble and an
enemy. You always dream nasty things; I expect it's your inside."

"What's that to do wi' it?" said Harriet.

"Everything," said Beth. "Don't you know the stuff that dreams are
made of? Pickles, pork, and plum-cake."

"Dreams is sent for our guidance," Harriet answered portentously,
shaking her head at Beth's flippancy.

"Well, I'm glad of it," said Beth, "for I dreamt I was catching Uncle
James's trout in a most unsportsmanlike way, and I guess the dream was
sent to show me how to do it. When I have that kind of dream, I notice
it nearly always comes true. But where's the 'Dream Book'?"

"'Ook it," said Harriet. "'Ere's your ma."

As the other little bodies had their breakfasts in bed, Beth had to
face her lessons alone that morning, and Mrs. Caldwell was not in an
amiable mood; but she was absent as well as irritable, so Beth did
some old work over again, and as she knew it thoroughly, she got on
well until the music began.

Beth had a great talent as well as a great love for music. When they
were at Fairholm, Aunt Grace Mary gave her Uncle James's "Instruction
Book for Beginners" one wet day to keep her quiet, and she learnt her
notes in the afternoon, and began at once to apply them practically on
the piano. She soon knew all the early exercises and little tunes, and
was only too eager to do more; but her mother hated the music-lesson
more than any of the others, and was so harsh that Beth became
nervous, and only ventured on the simplest things for fear of the
consequences. When her mother went out, however, she tried what she
liked, and, if she had heard the piece before, she could generally
make something satisfactory to herself out of it. One day Aunt
Victoria found her sitting on the music-stool, solemnly pulling at her
fingers, one after the other, as though to stretch them.

"What _are_ you doing, child?" she said.

"O Aunt Victoria," Beth answered in a despairing way, "here's such a
_lovely_ thing, and my head will play it, only my fingers are not long
enough."

Mildred had brought a quantity of new music home with her these
holidays. She promised to play well also, and her aunt was having her
properly taught. Beth listened to her enraptured when she first
arrived, and then, to Mildred's surp