GERTRUDE.

T was a long brown house, with two high-ceilinged
rooms below, and four low ones above, beside the
attic; then there was the kitchen, which was a log
house a little way off from the main house. Hop-

vines grew over the kitchen door, woodbine over the back
porch, and roses over the front. The house was two miles
from the village, and the village was fifty miles from the city.
Gertrude lived in the brown house; she was the eldest of four
children; Robin camc next, then there was Walter, after him
the baby, whose name was Mabel.

Gertrude used to think it would be very nice if Mabel had
been Robin, and Robin Mabel, so she could have a sister near
her own age to play with, for, of course, Robin and Walter

were generally together, and “didn’t want a girl tagging after
148