what will mother say," persisted Nelly, "if she find your cottage
unfurnished?"

"Unfurnished, indeed!" cried Matty. "It will be far better furnished
than yours. I mean to have French mirrors, and Italian paintings, and
German glass and china. I shall get a tambourine also, and perhaps some
day a guitar. Miss Folly tells me that Lady Fashion, her most particular
friend, has all these; and though they make a fine show, they are not so
dear as one would think."

"They are all good and beautiful things, I daresay," began Nelly;
"but--"

"But grates must come before mirrors, and carpets before German china,"
laughed Lubin. "We must buy what is needful first, and think of what is
pretty afterwards."

"That may be your way; but it is not my way, and it was never the way of
Miss Folly," cried Matty, as she flaunted out of the house.

"I wonder at Dick being so late," observed Nelly; "we ought to be off to
the town."

"He is not late, but early," said Lubin. "He had had his breakfast, and
started for the town of Education, before I was out of my bed."

"I wish that he had waited for us," cried Nelly; "it is so nice to go
through our work all together. You and I had now better set off."

"I'm going presently," replied Lubin. "I've just five minutes to spare;
and I'm about to step round to Amusement's bazaar, hard by here, to get
a few barley-sugar drops, to refresh me on my wearisome walk."

"I think that you had better delay your visit to the bazaar until you
have done your business with Mr. Arithmetic. Our mother's proverb, you
know, is, 'Duty first, and pleasure afterwards.' The sky is dark, the
weather uncertain; we may be stopped from going altogether if we do not
start off at once."

"I should like to be stopped altogether," said Lubin, with a smile. "I
should not care if I never took another journey to the town of
Education."

"What! after all that you said to Matty about the necessity of grates?"

"Ah, yes; they are needful enough, but they are not needed just at this
moment. You may go on if you like it, I'll get my sugar-drops first. Set
off now, I'll soon overtake you; I won't spend much time at
Amusement's."

Nelly sighed, but she saw that there was no use in further entreaty, so
she set forth alone. The path down hill was slippery and wet from the
rain that had fallen at night--a sister's kind word, or a brother's
strong arm, would have been a real comfort now to the lame little girl.
Often and oft