that was to a pretty whitewashed
and thatched cottage, standing in its little garden, which teemed with
fruit and flowers,--bright crimson Prince of Wales's feathers,
cockscombs, stocks, wallflowers, and roses; while gooseberries and
currants were bending the trees down to the earth with the weight heaped
upon the boughs. The window of this cottage was decorated with about
half a dozen glass jars, wherein reposed, in all their sticky richness,
the toffee, lemon stick, and candy which old Mrs Birch used to make for
the delectation of the boys and girls round. She had no
brilliantly-coloured sweets; no sticks veined with blue, green, yellow,
and red upon pure white ground; no crystallised drops, or those of clear
rose-colour, for all her "suckers," as they were called in the
neighbourhood, were home-made, and she used to show all her customers
the golden bright brass pan which hung upon the wall by the fire, as the
one in which all her succulent sweets were made. And where indeed were
there such others? Even town-bred Fred, who had feasted on Parisian
bonbons, and made himself ill by eating strange fruits off
Christmas-trees, owned to the purity and delectability of old Mrs
Birch's "butterscotch;" while, as to the brown lemon stick, it was
beyond praise. Capital customers were the boys to the dame, who was a
wonderful business-like old body in her spotted blue print dress, and
clean white muslin handkerchief pinned tightly over her neck; and she
told the boys in confidence what a wonderfully extended trade she might
do if she gave credit; but how determined she was never to carry on
business except upon ready-money principles; which had been her
intention ever since William, the butcher's boy, ran up a score of
tenpence three-farthings,--a score that had never been paid to that day,
and, what was more, the old lady expected that it never would be.

The boys then returned in a state of cloyey stickiness, and very soon
finished their preparations for the following day; and at last, by dint
of coaxing, Philip persuaded Cook to make a little paste; Harry borrowed
the housemaid's scissors, and then obtained from the tool-shed a couple
of straight laths. These he fashioned to his required size, and then,
by means of a piece of waxed twine, securely bound one to the other in
the form of a Latin cross, the upright limb being about eight inches
longer than the others. These were now kept in their places by a
tightly-tied s