22 AN INVITATION TO THE RECTORY.

 "I should like to have a pet lamb too, nurse,
if you please," said Bertha coaxingly.
 "And so you shall, hinny, when the spring
comes," replied nurse fondly.
 "May I nothave it now, nurse ? It is such a
long time till the spring."
 "Lambs only come in the spring, dear. All
the last spring lambs have grown into sheep now,
and they are by no means interesting, to make
pets of."
 At this moment Bertha saw a maid-servant
carrying a little boy in her arms, while another
little boy clung to the skirt of her gown, afraid
apparently to pass the cattle. These proved to
be the rector's two children, Harry and Willie
Alford, who came with their maid to invite Bertha
to spend the day at the rectory. Mrs. Bevan said
at once she was certainly much obliged to Mrs.
Alford for asking Bertha, and bade her run away
and ask Martha to put on her bonnet and tippet.
She left the room at once certainly, but she stayed
so long Mrs. Bevan had to go in search of her, when
she found her in her room, crouched in a corner
by the window, pouting and sulky. "I don't
want to go," she was saying to Martha, who was
patiently standing with the tippet in her hand