was not at home.

"I will walk in, and wait for her return," I replied.

The servant appeared somewhat startled at this, but after a little
delay ushered me into the parlour. Two little boys, of four and six
years of age, were playing about the room. I joined in their sports,
and soon became quite familiar with them. Half an hour had passed
away, when I inquired of the oldest boy what time he expected his
mother?

"Not till late," he answered, hesitatingly.

"Did she take the baby with her this cold day?" I asked.

"Yes, ma'am," promptly replied the girl, who, under pretence of
attending to the children, frequently came into the room.

The youngest child gazed earnestly in my face, and said, smilingly,

"Mother has not gone away, she is up stairs. She ran away with baby
when she saw you coming, and told us to say she had gone out. I am
afraid brother will take cold, for there is no fire up stairs."

"It is no such thing," exclaimed the girl and the eldest boy. "She
is not up stairs, ma'am, or she would see you."

But even as they spoke the loud cries of an infant were heard, and a
voice at the head of the stairs calling Jenny.