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bazaar or in a fancy fair, and the poor things felt their degradation keenly, only being foreigners, they could not make themselves so easily understood. But I could repeat such tales to you that they told me of their native country, and their makers!"

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CHAPTER XIV.

THE INTERRUPTION AND CONCLUSION.

UST at this moment the Humming
Top was suddenly interrupted by a

violent, loud noise which checked his humming pretty quickly, and startled all the rest of the toys so much, that they rolled and rattled back into their shelter, the toy cupboard, as speedily as they could.

"Vich of the painters is a coming to-morrow, Seusan, my child," said old Mrs. Jones, the charwoman, as she popped her head in at the door, and held up a tall dip in a tin candlestick to see if all was safe.

"Well, I thought I'd a shet up these here windows," said she, "but I s'pose I didn't, and the wind must have blowed the cupboard door open, and sent these here old playthings all over the room. Come in, my dear, and just help me to put them in again, will ye?"

And with Susan's help, old Mrs. Jones made a complete, clean sweep of all the poor dilapidated toys, huddled them roughly back into their cupboard, and shut the door, not only. turning the button firmly, but locking it as well.

"Them painter chaps," said Mrs. Jones, as she put the key in her great dimity pocket, "is'nt to be trusted no ways. They're as likely to shy all them old playthings out o' winder as not, and then the poor children would miss 'em when they come home."

And so the room was once more left to stillness and darkness for the night. The little mice came out and ran riot about the bare floor, and tried to get into the cupboard, but they could not manage it; and the crickets chirped loudly in the distant kitchen, for they were so used to Mrs. Jones, they did not mind her a bit. But the poor toys were really shut up again, and their holiday ended much quicker than they had expected. They heard the distant sounds of the workmen all over the house, and even heard them come into the nursery itself, but they saw nothing more. They could even hear the regular dabs and sweeps of the painter's

brush, especially when he was at work on the door that shut them up so closely, and then afterwards they heard the paper hangers ripping off the old papers with a rushing noise, and scraping and sizing the walls for the new paper, but they never got out.

Then the next sounds that greeted them, after a long interval, were the voices of Mr. Spenser and old Mrs. Jones. He had come to see how the house looked after the workmen had left, and she was showing him all over it.

"The nursery looks very nice, sir," she said, as she opened the door, "the old dirty paper all gone, and new paint, you can hardly know it again. This here new paper, to my mind, with the trails of roses and jessamy, is the prettiest in the house!"

"It looks very clean and bright certainly," replied Mr. Spenser, "but why don't you open this door too? You can't have too much air!"

"This is only a cupboard, sir," answered Mrs. Jones. "There were a lot of old playthings left here, and I thought them painters might fling 'em about, so I just turned the key, sir, but I'm going to clean it right down to-morrow.

I thought, sir, that may be, the young ladies and gentlemen might be put out if they found all their little things losed. But here's the key, sir, in my pocket, and now they're all off the premises, there's no need to keep it locked up." Quite right, Mrs. Jones," said Mr. Spenser, "I'm very glad you had so much thought. I don't know how Nurse came to overlook this cupboard."

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"Why, there, she had such a deal to do with packing up all the things, sir," replied Mrs. Jones, "that t'aint to be wondered at, and its all safe enough to my certain knowledge;" and then, after a little fumbling, she unlocked the door, and threw it wide open, disclosing all the heap of old toys huddled up together.

"Well this is a queer collection!" said Mr. Spenser, laughing; "a regular museum of antediluvian playthings! Where on earth could they have come from? I don't remember seeing the children with any of these, even any time back! However, shut them up, Mrs. Jones, till the children come home, and then we'll enquire into the matter!"

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