I shall send him to bed without his tea, and to-morrow I will
take his marbles from him; and if I see his knees showing through his pants
again, I'll put a red patch on them--that's what I'll do. Now, sir, go to
bed, and don't let me hear of you until morning."

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis were at the head of a highly respectable and industrious
coloured family. They had three children. Esther, the eldest, was a girl of
considerable beauty, and amiable temper. Caroline, the second child, was
plain in person, and of rather shrewish disposition; she was a most
indefatigable housewife, and was never so happy as when in possession of a
dust or scrubbing brush; she would have regarded a place where she could
have lived in a perpetual state of house cleaning, as an earthly paradise.
Between her and Master Charlie continued warfare existed, interrupted only
by brief truces brought about by her necessity for his services as
water-carrier. When a service of this character had been duly rewarded by a
slice of bread and preserves, or some other dainty, hostilities would
most probably be recommenced by Charlie's making an inroad upon the newly
cleaned floor, and leaving the prints of his muddy boots thereon.

The fact must here be candidly stated, that Charlie was not a tidy boy. He
despised mats, and seldom or never wiped his feet on entering the house; he
was happiest when he could don his most dilapidated unmentionables, as he
could then sit down where he pleased without the fear of his mother before
his eyes, and enter upon a game of marbles with his mind perfectly free
from all harassing cares growing out of any possible accident to the
aforesaid garments, so that he might give that attention to the game that
its importance demanded.

He was a bright-faced pretty boy, clever at his lessons, and a favourite
both with tutors and scholars. He had withal a thorough boy's fondness for
play, and was also characterised by all the thoughtlessness consequent
thereon. He possessed a lively, affectionate disposition, and was generally
at peace with all the world, his sister Caddy excepted.

Caroline had recovered her breath, and her mind being soothed by the
judgment that had been pronounced on Master Charlie, she began to bustle
about to prepare tea.

The shining copper tea-kettle was brought from the stove where it had been
seething and singing for the last half-hour; then the tea-pot of china
received its customary quantity of tea, which wa