trouble upon them, in the shape of banking and clearing, before they could divert it to its old. channel. They succeeded at length, when a pretty little brook came bubbling down the gutter, filling the basin, then overflowing and running on into the wood. Tommy sent a whole fleet of sticks and straws floating down it; and he fancied little harbours, and he planned a real little boat, flatbottomed, because the water was so shallow. Indeed I am much afraid that for the time being he cared more about his gutter and its stream than he did about his garden, and all the good plants his aunt had given him,-only for a time, for he was very fond of his garden. But the boat was made, and given a mast, with a white paper sail and a red flag; and she made many very safe voyages down, but she would never sail up, in spite of all Tommy's persuasions. He found it far easier to carry her up and launch her afresh for her downward voyage.

T wanted but a week and a day or two to Mr. Talbot's return. The two boys

determined that the arbour should be finished beforehand. There still remained all the laths to be fastened on, the moss to be stuffed in, and the thatch to be put on. A good deal to finish in a week! But the laths were lying ready, and the boys began with a will to nail them on. It was decided that they should lie diagonally from post to post in one direction between each pair of posts outside, and in the opposite direction inside; for laths must be fastened on within and without, that the moss might rest between. Ralph said, to make everything very tidy, there should be battens placed outside the laths' ends; but this could wait until the arbour was walled and roofed. The work,

unfortunately, proved rather beyond little Tom's powers. He hammered his fingers most unmercifully; and though he might not have minded that overmuch, he could not keep his laths even or nails upright, do what he would. Edward was obliged to finish one division, and set Tommy on a chair to stuff in the moss. This was troublesome work, because the width between was not very great, and the moss would stick half-way, leaving all the bottom bare; whilst Tommy was afraid to poke at it through the laths, for fear of unfastening them. He complained to his brother at last, who was quite puzzled how to remove the difficulty. But, to prevent its recurrence, he nailed henceforth only a foot or two in height at once, and by this means enabled Tommy almost to push down the stuffing with his hands, or, at worst, with the help only of a very short stick. After this the work progressed rapidly.

At length Tommy began to get very tired of it, and after one or two good yawns and a wide stretch he suggested that he had better go and see after Dick. Edward looked down from his ladder in surprise and chagrin :

'Oh, why, Tommy! we want to get it done.'

'But I am so tired,' pleaded poor Tom. I have been stuffing, stuffing, stuffing for you all day long, Edward.'

'It is quite early yet, Tommy; you must go on. I must finish all this side to-day to half-way behind. Then we can do the rest to-morrow, and there will be only the roof left.'

‘All this side up to there!' repeated the little boy. 'It is such a lot, Edward, and I am tired

of it.'

'Well, Tommy, you can go; but I have helped you a great deal. I have not been tired over your work; but you can go. I want no unwilling worker,' said Edward sublimely.

Tommy looked very disconsolate; but he toiled on for a while-a very short while; then his fatigue quite overpowered him, and he threw down his moss and his sticks, declaring that he must go. Edward would not answer him; so Tommy, feeling cross and unhappy, loitered slowly away. And Edward continued to labour alone, but not happily; for he felt, rather than acknowledged to himself, that he had been harsh to his little brother. And there is nothing hinders brightness and zeal in one's work like a smothered sense of wrongdoing.

Tommy dawdled away towards the peak to seek for Richard-not that this was exactly his object, but he was in disgrace with Ted; and as this poisoned all the lower land to him, he sought his brother on the hill. Tom had not been there for nearly a week, and he was surprised, on reaching it, to find no more signs of completion than he had left at his last visit. More débris lay about. Something of a fair-sized heap of stones had been gathered near the foundation-lines, and these lines were more defined and deeper; but to Tommy's eyes the castle was as far off as ever. Dick's head could be seen over the rising ground, bending over his excavations, as he swayed his heavy pick-axe. Tommy approached him, and was concerned to see how tired he looked.

'He is working much harder than I have,' thought the penitent child; yet I am sure he is a great deal more tired.'

'Dick!' he said at length, 'do you think you will ever have done?'

'I don't know!' exclaimed Dick, looking up, and answering a question that was often in his own mind.

'If I get my own spade, couldn't I dig out a