had been up to Mr.

Bromwick's wood-lot, and, with his consent, selected the tree.
Agamemnon went to look at it occasionally after dark, and
Solomon John made frequent visits to it mornings, just after
sunrise. Mr. Peterkin drove Elizabeth Eliza and her mother that
way, and pointed furtively to it with his whip; but none of them
ever spoke of it aloud to each other. It was suspected that the little
boys had been to see it Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. But
they came home with their pockets full of chestnuts, and said
nothing about it.

At length Mr. Peterkin had it cut down and brought secretly into
the Larkin's barn. A week or two before Christmas a measurement
was made of it with Elizabeth Eliza's yard-measure. To Mr.
Peterkin's great dismay it was discovered that it was too high to
stand in the back parlor.

This fact was brought out at a secret council of Mr. and Mrs.
Peterkin, Elizabeth Eliza, and Agamemnon.

Agamemnon suggested that it might be set up slanting; but Mrs.
Peterkin was very sure it would make her dizzy, and the candles
would drip.

But a brilliant idea came to Mr. Peterkin. He proposed that the
ceiling of the parlor should be raised to make room for the top of
the tree.

Elizabeth Eliza thought the space would need to be quite large. It