imagine herself in
the very midst of the most delicate, perplexing and laborious of
household tasks, when interruption is most irksome and perilous,
suddenly called to discuss with a child some new and startling
proposition to which at the moment she cannot even give a thought.

Mrs. Cushing was sitting in the kitchen with Mis' Persis, by the side of
a caldron of melted tallow, kept in a fluid state by the heat of a
portable furnace on which it stood. A long train of half-dipped candles
hung like so many stalactites from the frames on which the rods rested,
and the two were patiently dipping set after set and replacing them
again on the frame.

"As sure as I'm alive! if there isn't Dolly Cushing comin' back--runnin'
and tearin' like a wild cretur'," said Mis' Persis. "She'll be in here
in a minute and knock everything down!"

Mrs. Cushing looked, and with a quick movement stepped to the door.

"Dolly! what are you here for? Didn't I tell you not to come home this
noon?"

"Oh, mamma, there's going to be a party at General Lewis'--Bessie's
party--and the girls are all going; mayn't I go?"

"No, you can't; it's impossible," said her mother. "Your best dress
isn't ready to wear, and there's nobody can spend time to get you ready.
Go right back to school."

"But, mamma--"

"Go!" said her mother, in the decisive tone that mothers used in the old
days, when arguing with children was not a possibility.

"What's all this about?" asked the Doctor, looking out of the door.

"Why," said Mrs. Cushing, "there's going to be a party at General
Lewis', and Dolly is wild to go. It's just impossible for me to attend
to her now."

"Oh, I don't want her intimate at Lewis's," said the Doctor, and
immediately he came out behind his wife.

"There; run away to school, Dolly," he said. "Don't trouble your mother;
you don't want to go to parties; why, it's foolish to think of it. Run
away now, and don't think any more about it--there's a good girl!"

Dolly turned and went back to school, the tears freezing on her cheek as
she went. As for not thinking any more about it--that was impossible.

When three o'clock came, scholar after scholar rose and departed, until
at last Dolly was the only one remaining in the school-room.

When Dolly came home that night the coast was clear, and the candles
were finished and put away to harden in a freezing cold room; the
kitchen was once more restored, and Nabby bustled about getting supper
as