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HAPPY AND SAD. 183

ing-gowns, and Floss quite forgot that she had
expected to feel shy and strange. Only when
auntie came up to the nursery again after din-
ner, and made Floss tell her about all the long
walk in the cold and the dark, and about the
“kind porter,” and the oldish-looking lady, and,
farther back still, about the leaving home in
the morning, and how poor mamma kissed them
“so many, many times,” Floss could not help
crying again a little, nor could auntie either.
And though Carrots and Sybil did not cry,
their little faces looked very solemn, and as if
‘they almost thought they should cry, as they
sat side by side on the rug in front of the high
nursery guard, Carrots in the funny red flannel
dressing-gown, which made him look so “ old-
fashioned,” and Sybil in her white embroidery
and rose ribbons, crumpling them all up “any-
how” in a way which really went to Floss’s
heart, though auntie did not seem to mind.
Then came bedtime, — such a nice bedtime ;
for auntie had prepared for them two dear little
rooms, with a door between, that they should