cry, old girl.'

Mother taught me to call her Sissy when we were very little and before
the others came, but I don't often somehow, now we are old. I patted her
on the back, and she put her head against my sleeve, holding on to Alice
all the time, and she went on. She was in that laughy-cryey state when
people say things they wouldn't say at other times.

'Oh dear, oh dear--I do try, I do. And when Mother died she said, "Dora,
take care of the others, and teach them to be good, and keep them out of
trouble and make them happy." She said, "Take care of them for me, Dora
dear." And I have tried, and all of you hate me for it; and to-day I let
you do this, though I knew all the time it was silly.'

I hope you will not think I was a muff but I kissed Dora for some time.
Because girls like it. And I will never say again that she comes the
good elder sister too much. And I have put all this in though I do hate
telling about it, because I own I have been hard on Dora, but I never
will be again. She is a good old sort; of course we never knew before
about what Mother told her, or we wouldn't have ragged her as we did. We
did not tell the little ones, but I got Alice to speak to Dicky, and we
three can sit on the others if requisite.

This made us forget all about the sherry; but about eight o'clock there
was a knock, and Eliza went, and we saw it was poor Jane, if her name
was Jane, from the Vicarage. She handed in a brown-paper parcel and a
letter. And three minutes later Father called us into his study.

On the table was the brown-paper parcel, open, with our bottle and glass
on it, and Father had a letter in his hand. He Pointed to the bottle and
sighed, and said, 'What have you been doing now?' The letter in his hand
was covered with little black writing, all over the four large pages.

So Dicky spoke up, and he told Father the whole thing, as far as he knew
it, for Alice and I had not told about the dead sailors' lady.

And when he had done, Alice said, 'Has Mr Mallow written to you to say
he will buy a dozen of the sherry after all? It is really not half bad
with sugar in it.'

Father said no, he didn't think clergymen could afford such expensive
wine; and he said _he_ would like to taste it. So we gave him what there
was left, for we had decided coming home that we would give up trying
for the two pounds a week in our spare time.

Father tasted it, and then he acted just as H. O. had done when he had
his teaspoo