Quite decent and respectable-like now, ma'am !" said Daisy, as she prepared to offer some toast to the invalid, who pushed it away.

"Always pour my tea out first, stupid girl!"

"Beg pardin, ma'am; didn't know your tastes, ma'am."

"This comes of having new servants! never mind, I'll take a plate or two of toast now."

"Hasn't she got an appetite?" whispered Gerty, "there won't be none left for us!"

"Pert creatures! how dare you whisper? eat up the rest of the toast this minute! don't let me see a morsel when I next unclose my eyes!"

As there was no settled time fixed when the eyes were to unclose, the two maids ate vigorously, and succeeded in emptying the plate before their tyrannical mistress turned round again.

"Sorry I can't eat any more-you shouldn't have brought up such a lot more than I wanted! All those cakes and things! I suppose you wanted them for yourselves!"

This being the truth, the maids lost no time in showing they at least were not invalids.

When Lily had taken as many cups of tea as she wished, and all was done with, the clearing away commenced.

"Which of us shall wash, and which shall wipe the things?" asked Gerty.

"I'll wash them, if you don't mind?" said Daisy, "here's a clean cloth to dry with."

"I'm glad you are to have the washing," said Gerty, " for I don't like jammy plates !"

Daisy laughed, and said she didn't mind a bit. The mistress complained that they seemed very sloppy girls, for she heard water "trickling down on the floor!"

"So it is, ma'am !" exclaimed Daisy; "why, we forgot to put the wet things on the tray, and I think a little water went over the side of this basin just now."

"I expect a good deal went over-sounds like it!' said Lily. Gerty seized a nice towel from the horse, and rubbed the carpet dry; then she popped the stained towel into the linen basket, as a surprise for Martin next Monday morning!

All the clean cups and saucers were deposited on the tray, and placed outside the door, with the tablecloth neatly folded beside it. Then the maids began to resume their own characters; the caps and aprons were pulled off, and Gerty, with a farewell kiss to Lily, ran off to change her dress for the evening, for it was now getting late. And so ended the bed-room tea-party.

AS it really true that mama was to be home that very day? From dawn the expectant children had been awake, and happily Lily was now quite well, so they dressed early, and wandered restlessly about. It was a beautiful, mild morning, the first of May. The genial sun

shine had driven away cold winds and cloudy skies; all the bright early flowers were blooming in the beds.

"Let us go in the garden till the breakfast bell rings!" said Lily; and so they put on their hats and jackets, and ran out by the garden door. Gerty saw them from her window, and hastened her dressing that she might join them, and have half-an-hour's

enjoyment in the society of the Newfoundland pups. When she went out to the garden, her cousins gladly agreed to visit the kennel, and exclaimed in delight at the spectacle of the six fluffy, cuddlesome baby dogs which waddled towards them!

"Beauties!" said Gerty, enthusiastically, as one or two of the small creatures sat down in the sunniest part of the large yard, putting their heads wisely on one side, and blinking with an expression of intense enjoyment.

"Uncle Gerald said he would give us one when mama arrived," said Lily.

"Then,” said Gerty, "see which one you would like —any but curly ears, for he's mine."

"That dear little fellow in the sun, there!" exclaimed Daisy, "he has not one speck of white! Could we have him, Gerty?'

"Oh! yes-he is a handsome little fellow! Papa is going to send all the others to friends who have asked for them; we can't keep so many, you know. Look at their mother, how she is begging for notice! Poor old Brenda, did she think we had forgotten her?"

The heavy tail wagged lustily as Brenda lifted her faithful eyes to her young mistress; and then, as the breakfast bell rang, and the children turned to leave the yard, all the pups scampered after them! Daisy shut the gate just in time, saying, laughingly—

"We would take you, you dear fat things, but Thomas is so particular!"

Directly after breakfast Colonel Morton started for London, as he had to go to Gravesend to meet his sister-in-law; and he observed when starting

"It is such a beautiful day, there is not likely to be any delay in the coming in of the "Southern Star." "What a pretty name for Aunt Lisa's ship!" said Gerty.

"And you cannot tell the exact train you may return by, of course," said Aunt Marian, “so perhaps it will be best to take a fly home."

“I think so—it might be quite late, and delays often happen. Now good-bye! Amuse yourselves, Daisy and Lily, and make the time pass quickly till mama comes;" and with kindly looks at the eager young faces, Colonel Morton got into the dog-cart, and drove off.

Lunch came-tea-time came-bed-time came! but not a whisper of bed was heard, for of course the children would sit up to meet their mother, even if she did not arrive till the last train-twelve o'clock.

But as the night wore on, the intensity of their anxious listening for some sound of wheels increased, and the two children started at every gust of wind that swept amongst the tall trees of the avenue. At last there was no mistaking the approach of a fly, and then the two little figures darted across the broad hall just as a loud peal of the bell roused Thomas from a nap in which he was indulging, and Lily's trembling fingers were vainly trying to undo the heavy fastenings of the door when his tall form