Willie's Nest in the Ruins. 129

 

come and live with them, for they were all anxious
to have her to take care of. But, in fact, small
persuasion was necessary, for the old lady was
only too glad to accept the invitation; and before
the warm weather of autumn was over, she was
ready to go to them. -

By this time Willie’s room was fubaied. All
the things from his former nest had been moved
into it; the bed with the chintz curtains, covered
with strahge flowers and birds; the old bureau,
with the many drawers inside the folding cover, in
which he kept all his little treasures; the table at
which he read books that were too-big to hold,
such as Raleigh’s History of the World and Jose-
phus; the old oblong mirror that hung on the wall,
with an outspread gilt eagle at the top of it; the
big old arm-chair that had belonged to his great-
grandfather, who wrote his sermons in it—for all
the things the boy had about him were old, and in
all his after-life he never could bear new furniture.
And now his grandmothers furniture began to
appear; and a great cart-load of it from her best
bedroom was speedily arranged in Willie’s late
quarters, and as soon as they were ready for her,
Mrs Macmichael set out in a post-chaise to fetch
her mother.