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Emy's pale face leaning back on the sofa, and she thought to herself

'How sweet and gentle she looks!'

Mrs. Spencer saw them looking at each other, so she took Alice over to Emily, who was lying on the sofa, and told them to make friends, which they managed to do very quickly.

'What do you do all day?' asked Alice, ‘I should get so tired of lying still. I'm sure I should be very cross if I had to.'

'I do all sorts of things,' answered Emily. 'I read a good deal, and I paint sometimes, but that tires me rather, so I do not do it very often, and I work, and tat, and crochet, and play with my doll's house,'

'What lots of things you can do!' said Alice; 'I can't tat or crochet, and I can't bear needlework, except making things for my doll. Don't you ever play with your dolls?'

'I haven't got one,' answered Emily, 'I wish I had. Mamma was going to have bought one for me, but she says she can't get a nice one in the village, as the only really pretty one was sold, so I must wait till I go to London, which will be next month.'

'Mamma,' said Alice on Easter Eve, 'may I have my doll this evening, instead of to-morrow? I want it for something very particular.'

'What is that something very particular?' asked her mamma, smiling.

'I will tell you to-morrow, dear mamma, if you will be so kind as to let me have it to-night!'

Very well, dear, you may if you like,' answered her mamma. 'You shall have it now.'

'Oh thank you, thank you, dear mamma !' cried Alice, throwing her arms round her mamma's neck. Mamma got up, and went to her drawer, and took out the beautiful doll.

How lovely it looked! Alice stood quite still and gazed at it in her mamma's hands for a few moments; then she took it in her own, and thanking her mamma, she ran out of the room up to the nursery.

Alice had made up her mind to part with her darling, but now that the time came it seemed very hard. She kissed her new doll over and over again, at the same time thinking, could she possibly part with this beautiful treasure?

'But then she has none, and I have got one old one. Yes, I will,' she thought.

It was a hard thing for a little child to give up, but Alice did it, for the next morning Emily Selwyn received a parcel with Alice Payne's best love, and wishing her a happy Easter. Alice would indeed have been happy, could she have seen Emily's delight when she opened it, and found in it the beautiful doll.

Alice did not once regret what she had done, but she felt very happy; as any one must do, who gives up what is dear to them, for the happiness of another.

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SOPHY'S PET.

ITTLE Ruffles was a very pretty tiny dog, which belonged to a little girl called Sophy.

Sophy had no brothers or sisters, so she loved this little dog nearly as much as she would have loved a brother or sister if she had had one; at least she thought so, for Ruffles was such a very affectionate dog.

He used to sleep on a shawl, at the bottom of Sophy's bed, every night. He had a little brush and comb of his very own to keep his long silken hair smooth and glossy; and Sophy always brushed and combed it her own self. She took him out every morning for a walk, which they both enjoyed very much. Ruffles would scamper on in front of his little mistress, and then racing back

again, would jump up against her and lick her hands, which of course was meant for kissing, to show how much he loved her; for, as I said before, Ruffles was a very loving little dog, as indeed he ought to have been when he had such a kind mistress.

Ruffles was also a very clever dog, for he could do such lots of funny little tricks. When Sophy was eating her dinner, Ruffles would come to her side, and if she did not attend to him. he would go on tapping her with one paw till she looked at him; and when she said, 'Beg then! beg, Ruffles!' he would stand on his hind legs and shake his two little front paws quite fast. Of course, when he had done what he was told, he had his reward, which was generally something off Sophy's own plate.

It was really quite a wonder that Master Ruffles did not grow very conceited; for he very often heard himself praised, and called a Handsome, Beautiful, Princely Dog, and many more such things, which certainly would have made some beings vain. He often heard his soft silken hair talked about, and his beautiful black eyes, which peeped out, like little coals, underneath his hair.

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