mamma's, and her hair as white as a snowdrift."

Just then, the driver took off a strange-looking thing from the
carriage, and brought it up the steps. It was an old-fashioned trunk,
covered with stiff, reddish-brown hair. The boys had never seen a hair
trunk, and it seemed to them, at the first glance, more like some kind
of an animal than a trunk.

Before they had a chance to examine it, their mamma called them to come
and kiss their aunt, which they did very politely, as they had been
directed. But her sweet face won their hearts at once; and Bertie
exclaimed, "Oh, you are not a _big_ Patience: you are a _little_ good
Patience, I know; and I am not a bit afraid of you!"

[Illustration]

"Bless your little heart, dear! what has mamma been telling you to make
you afraid of me?" said auntie with a merry laugh.

As soon as they could get away, the boys ran up stairs to see what the
driver had carried to their aunt's room. Fred discovered what it was as
soon as he opened the door; but Bertie, who was not yet four years old,
was greatly puzzled. "What can it be?" said he, keeping a safe distance
away from it.

Now, Fred liked to play tricks upon his little brother sometimes: so he
said, with pretended alarm, "Why, perhaps it is a young lion."

After this startling suggestion, Bertie did not wait an instant. He ran
as fast as his legs would carry him, screaming, "O mamma! there is a