ingers."

"There now!" exclaimed Matty, who, followed by Nelly, had eagerly run to
the Fancy-work row; "was ever anything so pretty as this! Every blossom
like bunches of beads that glitter so brightly in the sun! This, this is
the plant for my money; and then it is so easy to be carried!"

Nelly also looked with great admiration on the beautiful flower, and
felt greatly inclined to choose one like it. She knew that she had not
hours enough to purchase all that she might like, and it was quite
natural in a little girl to wish for what was pretty and pleasant. But a
thought crossed the lame child's mind, and laying her hand on Matty's
arm, she whispered in her sister's ear: "Don't you remember, dear, how
fond mother is of the fruits of Plain-work; we've heard her say many a
time that no Fancy-work in the world is half so much to her liking. Now
mother will come back to us again when the fruit will have had time to
ripen; pretty blossoms are nice to look at; but the great thing, after
all, is the fruit."

"I'm not going to plague myself with that stupid Plain-work," cried
Matty, shrugging her shoulders; "but it may do for _you_!" She said this
in so scornful a tone that it brought the colour to Nelly's pale cheek.

"Why should I mind?" thought the lame little girl; "I know that mother
likes Plain-work best; she values things that are useful rather than
those that are pretty; and oh, I'm so glad that she does so, or what
would become of me!"

So Matty purchased the pretty ornamented creeper, with its clusters of
bright-coloured beads, and Nelly took a fine thriving plant of
Plain-work, to train up her garden wall.

Then both took leave of Mrs. Sewing, who, smiling and courtesying to the
girls, bade them farewell in these words,--

"Pleasure and profit both attend ye,
Sewing ever shall befriend ye!"

Matty's plant was in a small light pot, and she easily carried it across
the brook; then turning, she looked back at her sister, who could hardly
see the stepping-stones through the thick leaves of the plant which she
bore. Nelly's pot was also very heavy, and before she could reach the
shore, her lame foot slipped on a stone, and she fell splash into the
waters of Bother.

The stream was very shallow, so there was no danger of her being
drowned, but the shock, the tumble, and the wetting were anything but
agreeable. It was very unkind in Matty to stand, as she did, laughing at
her poor lame sister, as she f