whether the prayer would be over before the eight-day clock struck
nine, or whether the loud whirr which preceded that event would be
suddenly and deafeningly let loose upon Uncle Reuben in the middle
of his peroration, as sometimes happened when the speaker forgot
himself. To-night that catastrophe was just avoided by a somewhat
obvious hurry through the Lord's Prayer. When they rose from their
knees Hannah put away the Bible, the boy and girl raced each other
upstairs, and the elders were left alone.

An hour passed away. Reuben was dozing peacefully in the
chimney-corner; Aunt Hannah had just finished putting a patch
on a pair of Reuben's trousers, was folding up her work and
preparing to rouse her slumbering companion, when a sound
overhead caught her ear.

'What's that chilt at now?' she exclaimed angrily, getting up and
listening. 'She'd owt ta been in bed long ago. Soomthin mischeevous,
I'll be bound. And lighting a dip beside her, she went upstairs
with a treacherously quiet step. There was a sound of an opening
door, and then Reuben downstairs was startled out of his snooze by
a sudden gamut of angry cries, a scurrying of feet, and Hannah
scolding loudly--

'Coom downstairs wi yo!--coom down an show your uncle what a figure
o' foon yo'n been makkin o' yorsel! I'st teach yo to burn three
candles down awbut to nothink 'at yo may bedizen yorsel in this
way. Coom along wi yo.'

There was a scuffle on the stairs, and then Hannah burst open the
door, dragging in an extraordinary figure indeed. Struggling and