ged gradually to a drizzle, the drizzle grew lighter and lighter
until it ceased altogether, the clouds rolled away to the east, and
through the grey of the sky there broke a feeble, struggling light.
Brighter and brighter it grew, stronger and stronger, until of a sudden
a ray of sunshine danced across the floor of the room, and electrified
its occupants in the midst of their work.

"What's that? What's that? The sun! The sun!" cried every one in
chorus, and a stampede was made to the door to see if the good omen
could possibly be true. The ground was soaking with moisture, but oh,
the freshness, the sweetness, the delightful earthiness of the scent
which greeted their nostrils!

"Mff!" cried Nan, opening her mouth wide to draw in deep breaths.

"Ouf!" gasped Agatha rapturously.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Has it actually stopped raining?" cried
Christabel elegantly; and Jim executed a jig of triumph on the doorstep.

"It has stopped indeed! The clouds have rolled away, the sun is coming
out; in another hour it will be beaming, and you will have such a day as
you have not had for weeks past. I told you so! If you had only
listened to me, you would have been spared all your misery. I told you
so--"

"Excuse me! You did nothing of the kind. You remarked to me on my
arrival that it looked `Jolly bad, and that it was going to be a brute
of a day,'" interrupted Kitty severely; but Jim affected a convenient
deafness.

"Now then," he cried, "all hands to the pumps! I'll set James to work
to mow the lawn, and by the time it is cut and swept and the sun has
shone on it for a couple of hours it will be as dry as tinder. We'll
have the paths swept too, and put a few planks across where the water
has settled, and all will be as right as a trivet. Put on thick boots,
and set to work to undo all you have done this morning. There is no
time to lose!"

There was not, indeed; but willing hands made light work, and a more
cheery band of workers it would have been difficult to find. To see Nan
rushing in and out of the house, clad in a short bicycling skirt, with
snow-shoes covering her slippers, and Jim's cap stuck on the back of her
head, was a sight funny enough to have cheered the most melancholy of
patients; but when she executed a dance of triumph before her completed
stall, her sisters held their hands to their sides in convulsions of
laughter. A deeper laugh joined in with theirs, a lazy musical laugh,
whi