ly fixed between
the bars of the quilting-frame, before the dinner-bell rang out its
pleasant call. The happy girl skipped down-stairs with a light and merry
step. In the hall she met her brothers.

"O Guy!" she exclaimed, "I have finished my quilt! Aren't you glad!"

"To be sure I am," said Guy, kissing her rosy cheek, "and I expect you
will be so well-pleased with my old friend, Never-give-up, who helped you
finish it, that you will never give him the mitten again."

"Pshaw!" cried Hugh with a sneer, "I'll bet my new knife, that she gives
him the mitten before the week is out. Jessie isn't made of the right
stuff for your famous Try Company, any more than I am. She hasn't got the
perseverance of a kitten."

"And yet she has more of it, than Master Hugh Carlton, for he has never
finished any thing but his dinner, and she has finished her _quilt_," said
Uncle Morris, who as he was crossing the hall to the dining-room, heard
Hugh's unkind remark.

"There, Hugh, you are fairly hit now," said Guy, laughing.

"They who live in glass-houses shouldn't throw stones, should they, my
little puss?" said Uncle Morris, leading Jessie into the dining-room.

"Hugh is always teasing me," replied Jessie, "I wish he was more like
Guy."

Dinner was waiting, and taking their seats at the table, they all sat in
silence, while Uncle Morris reverently craved a blessing. He had hardly
finished, before Charlie and Emily rushed into the room, leaving traces of
their feet on the carpet, at every step.

"My dears, where have you been to wet your feet so?" asked Mrs. Carlton,
seeing that their boots were soaked with water.

"Oh! it's been thawing, Aunt, and we got our feet wet, sliding," said
Emily, as she took her seat at the table, panting and pushing the ringlets
back from her face.

"You had better put on dry socks and boots, before you eat," observed Mrs.
Carlton. She then touched the bell. The servant entered.

"Mary," said the lady, "take these children to their rooms, and change
their socks and boots!"

"Yes mem," said Mary, looking daggers at the two cousins.

"Can't I wait till after dinner, aunt?" asked Emily.

"No, my dear. You must go at once, lest you get cold by sitting still so
long with wet feet."

Emily pouted, but knowing her aunt would firmly enforce her command, she
rose, and taking her brother by the wrist, said:

"Come, Charlie, let us go up-stairs!"

"I don't want to," growled Charlie, pulling away his