mistake, and, at the close, dropped her little courtesy, and kissed
her little hand, with the grace and self-possession of a danseuse.

The children crowded around her with a clamor of delight and
surprise; but the mother, anxiously watching her darling's flushed
face and sparkling eyes, whispered to her cousin, as he playfully
applauded,--

"Oh, don't, Tom! The child will be utterly ruined by so much
flattery and admiration. I feel very badly about it, I assure you."

"But she is absolutely so bewitching! How can we help admiring her?"
replied he, laughing.

"No: but it is wrong; it won't do," persisted Mrs. Legrange. "Just
see how excited and happy she looks because they are all admiring
her! You must help me to check it, Tom. Come, you are so famous for
stories, tell them one about a peacock, or something,--a story with a
moral about being vain, you know, only not too pointed."

"A pill with a very thick sugar-coat," suggested Mr. Burroughs, and,
as his cousin nodded, continued, in a louder voice,--

"A story, ladies and gentlemen! Who will listen to the humble
attempts of an unfortunate improvisator?"

"Yes, yes, a story; let us have a story!" shouted with one accord
both girls and boys; and with 'Toinette perched upon his knee, and
the rest grouped about him, Cousin Tom began the story of THE
CHILDREN OF MERRIGOLAND.