of cottages. Dick kept his word to Nelly, and
took no further notice of the desertion of Lubin, than by saying, with a
laugh, when first they met, "You went up the hill at such a pace, my
fine fellow, that one might have thought that you fancied the terrible
Alphabet following close at your heels."

Lubin looked rather sulky, but was glad to be so easily let off; he was
not aware that he owed Dick's forbearance to the kindly offices of
peacemaker Nelly.

As the day was now far advanced, the children resolved not to begin
their papering work till the morrow. They went to the house Needful,
where they were to have their board and lodging for a short time, till
their cottages should be a little furnished. They were all rather tired
with their day's exertions, and none but Dick felt disposed to take a
stroll in the evening.

CHAPTER VIII.

BREAKING DOWN.

The first care of Matty and Nelly in the morning, after they had taken
their breakfast, was to water their needlework plants.

"I can't think," said Matty to her sister, "how you could be so silly as
to choose that ugly Plain-work,--I'm sure there's not a bit of beauty in
it."

"I wait for the fruit," said Nelly meekly.

"It does not climb high like mine, to adorn the walls; it creeps heavily
along the ground. It is such a mean-looking plant."

"We shall not think it mean in the season of ripening," observed Nelly.

"Ah, here comes Lubin!" cried Matty; "he was late for breakfast, as
usual. Good-morning, my lazy brother. Do you know what has become of
Dick?"

"Not I," answered Lubin, with a yawn.

"Perhaps he has been working at his cottage already," said Nelly, "and
has been studying the ladder of Spelling. Just wait till I fetch the can
of paste--we'll put Attention into several little pots, and all begin
papering our walls together."

Nelly soon brought the paste, which she had kept during the night at
house Needful. As Lubin and his sisters went towards the group of
cottages, they heard the cheerful voice of Dick calling to them from the
inside of his own.

"Come in here with you, and I'll show you something worth the seeing."

"Why, Dick," exclaimed Matty, who was the first to enter, "you don't
mean to say that you have papered half your parlour already!"

"I don't say it, but you may see it," said Dick.

"What wonderful progress you have made!"

"I should say that I have," returned Dick, with a mighty self-satisfied
air, as he looked a