of the missing Master Teddy
and those who had gone forth in search of him; but, really, seekers and
sought alike had been so long absent that it seemed as if they were all
lost together and never coming back!

The little girls were weary almost of waiting, and being thus kept in
suspense with hope deferred.

Besides that, they were overcome with a sense of loneliness and
desertion, everyone in the house but old Molly the cook and themselves
having started off early in the afternoon in different directions in
quest of the truant Teddy; so, as the time flew by and day drew to a
close, without a sight or sound in the distance to cheer their drooping
spirits, their little hearts grew heavy within them.

Presently, too, their whilom bright eyes got so dimmed with unshed tears
which would well up, that they were unable to see clearly had there been
anything or anyone for them to see; while their little putty noses, when
they removed them occasionally from close contact with the glass, bore a
suspiciously red appearance that was not entirely due to previous
pressure against the window panes.

Nor were their surroundings of a sufficiently enlivening character to
banish the little maidens' despondency, the fire in the drawing-room
grate having died out long since from inattention, making them feel cold
and comfortless, and it had got so dark within that they could not
distinguish the various articles of furniture, even papa's armchair in
the chimney-corner; while, outside, in the gloaming, the snow-flakes
were falling slowly and steadily from a leaden-hued sky overhead.

The only thing breaking the stillness of the murky air was the
melancholy "Chirp, churp! chirp, churp" uttered at intervals by some
belated sparrow who had not gone to bed in good time like all sensible
bird-folk, and whose plaintive chirp was all the more aggravating from
its monotonous repetition.

"I'm sore sumtin d'eadfill's happened," whimpered little Cissy, the
youngest of the three watchers, after a long silence between them. "Pa
sood have been back hours and hours and hours ago."

"Nonsense, Cissy!" said Miss Conny, her elder sister, who by virtue of
her seniority and the fact of her having reached the mature age of ten
was rather prone to giving herself certain matronly airs of superiority
over the others, which they put up with in all good faith, albeit they
were most amusing to outside onlookers. "You are always imagining
something terrible