ese buds must be from your own pet tea-rose."

"Yes," said Polly, in a careless voice, "they are; I picked them for
Virginia this morning. I'd do anything for Virginia. I'm greatly excited
about her coming."

"You never saw her," said Firefly, in an aggrieved voice. "You wouldn't
give me your tea-roses. I don't think it's nice of you to be fonder of
her than you are of me. And Nursie says her name isn't Virginia."

"Never mind, she's Virginia to me, and the boy is Paul. Why, Fly, what a
jealous little piece you are. Come here, and sit on my lap. Of course
I'm fond of you, Fly, but I'm not excited about you. I know just the
kind of nose you have, and the kind of mouth, and the kind of big,
scarecrow eyes, but you see I don't know anything at all about Virginia,
so I'm making up stories about her, and pictures, all day long. I expect
she's something of a barbarian, both she and her brother, and isn't it
delicious to think of having two real live barbarians in the house?"

"Yes," said Firefly, in a dubious voice. "I suppose if they are real
barbarians, they won't know a bit how to behave, and we'll have to teach
them. I'll rather like that."

"Oh, you'll have to be awfully good, Fly, for they'll copy you in every
way; no sulking or sitting crooked, or having untidy hair, or you'll
have a couple of barbarians just doing the very same thing. Now, jump
off my lap, I want to go to Nurse, and you may come with me as a great
treat. I'm going to undress baby. I do it every night; and you may see
how I manage. Nurse says I'm very clever about the way I manage babies."

"Oh, you're clever about everything," said Fly, with a prolonged,
deep-drawn breath. "Well, Polly, I do hope one thing."

"Yes?"

"I do hope that the barbarians will be very, very ugly, for after you've
seen them you won't be curious any more, and after you know them there
won't be any stories to make up, and then you won't love them better
than me."

"What a silly you are, Fly," responded Polly.

But she gave her little sister's hand an affectionate squeeze, which
satisfied the hungry and exacting heart of its small owner for the
present.

Meanwhile the enormous wreath progressed well, and presently took upon
important position over the house doorway. As the daylight was getting
dim, and as it would, in the estimation of the children, be the
cruellest thing possible if the full glories of the wreath were not
visible to the eyes of the strangers when th