THE NEW HOME. 33

for Charles and Lucy; but after dinner, which
was served at two o'clock, Mrs. Lovett said,
“Come, Lucy, your skirt must be finished: two
hours’ steady work will complete it, and then you
can get your tea-set, and the cook shall bake you
some little cakes, and your cousin and you may
have a tea-party.”

Lucy did not like the beginning of this sentence,
but towards the last of it her eyes sparkled, and
she cried joyfully, ‘“‘Oh, thank you, mamma!”
and was seated at her work in a minute. For an
hour her needle went quite fast, and she lost no
time, except now and then a very little in mea-
suring how much she had done. During this
hour Charles had said another lesson to his mother
had talked to Mary, and romped with Emma, who
was creeping about the floor. Mary had played
with Emma, and made acquaintance with the
mocking-bird and the canary, and pulled off the
only rose on Mrs. Lovett’s pet rose-bush, which
seemed a very trifling affair to her, who had been
accustomed to see perfect trees of the same rose
blooming all winter in the open air.

As the afternoon wore away, Lucy began to

c