wickedness would certainly discourage her beyond a hope, and then I
could finish.

So I put the moon on, staring full; in putting on the hands I got, I
thought, sufficiently worked up to venture my prepared reply to her
repeated "get down!"

I accordingly approached my grandmother, stopping some feet from her;
bent my body half-over, my long red hair covering my eyes, and my head
suiting its action to my earnestness, and in a decided rebellious tone,
I spelled, "I W-O-N-T;" but accidently giving myself a turn on my heel I
fell to the floor, with the pronunciation still unexpressed.

I quickly rose, though I saw stars without any "two cents," and returned
to, and finished my work. I had just put the last touch on when I heard
the wheels. How I dreaded my aunt's appearance! As she entered the door
I was found "demurely rocking" to the pictures in the andirons.

My aunt thought I did not seem natural, and kissed me as being "too
good, perhaps, to be well." My grandmother tried to speak, but I
interrupted:

"I must go home without my tea. I am not afraid of the dark, and I
better go."

This was another proof of indisposition to the aunt. I left the house,
kissing as I thought, my grandmother into silence; but as I looked back
I saw she could not utter a word without laughing at the aunt's anxiety,
and so had to put off the narration till after my departure.