MRS. MODESTY AND THE MAGNIFYING GLASS. 45

“No, no,” said {Clover ; “I have always promised myself that I
will watch over you while oe sleep, for it is impossible to tell what
dangers may happenfto us.’

“Well, then, I will sleep for just half an hour, and then you will
sleep for half an hour,” said Cowslip. She settled herself comfort-
ably as she spoke, laid her head on Clover’s shoulder, and was soon in
the land of dreams.

Clover thought, as he held his sister’s head against his breast,
that nothing could possibly induce him even to feel sleepy, but he had
very little idea of the soothing influence of the soft summer air, and
the effect of the cool shade after the rays of the hot sun. Before he
knew anything about it, his own heavy eyes had closed and he was
fast asleep, dreaming that he had already reached the Blue Mountains
and was holding his father’s hand and looking into his mother’s
beloved face.

He was awakened by a ery from Cowslip, and starting to his feet,
rubbing his eyes as he did so, he saw that his sister was sitting up
isokne very white and shaken.

es Oh, have I been asleep?” exclaimed the boy. “ How very, very
sorry Lam. What is the matter, Cowslip P—you look as if somebody
had done something to terrify you.”

“Tt must have been a dream I had,” said Cowslip. “I thought
something very terrible had come to me while I was asleep. I felt a
hot breath on my cheeks, and, although my eyes were tight closed, I
seemed to see some very terrible eyes looking right down into my heart.
Oh, I felt so frightened. I am quite sure some wicked creature came
and looked at me, but when I woke up I could not see anybody.

“You had a nightmare,” said Clover, in a tender voice. “ People
imagine all kinds of things when they have one of those bad dreams.
Of course no one could have been here, for there is no one in sight.”

“And you were watching me all the time, were you not?” said
Cowslip.

Clover felt the colour coming into his cheeks.

“Tam ashamed of myself,” he said, “ but the fact is I fell asleep
too. I did not mean to, of course. Nothing was further from my