out . . .

"Tell about the party! Tell about the party!"

With what Meg called 'a great want of manners' Jo had saved some
bonbons for the little girls, and they soon subsided, after hearing
the most thrilling events of the evening.

"I declare, it really seems like being a fine young lady, to
come home from the party in a carriage and sit in my dressing gown
with a maid to wait on me," said Meg, as Jo bound up her foot with
arnica and brushed her hair.

"I don't believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more
than we do, in spite of our burned hair, old gowns, one glove apiece
and tight slippers that sprain our ankles when we are silly enough
to wear them." And I think Jo was quite right.



CHAPTER FOUR

BURDENS

"Oh, dear, how hard it does seem to take up our packs
and go on," sighed Meg the morning after the party, for now
the holidays were over, the week of merrymaking did not fit
her for going on easily with the task she never liked.

"I wish it was Christmas or New Year's all the time.