“Why, I reckoned you was going to-morrow,” was Phebe’s cool reply, rolling the whites of her eyes to hide a twinkle of fun.  She knew Dotty expected her to say, “I am sorry;” but, though she really was sorry, she would not confess it just then, because she was an inveterate tease.

Dotty felt a little chilled.  She could not look into the future and see the tomato pincushion Phebe was to give her, with the assurance that “she liked her a heap; she was a right smart child, and not a bit stuck up.”

The day ended with Dotty’s dear, dear letter under her pillow.  She was going to be very happy by and by; but just now she thought she was so homesick that she should never go to sleep.  She longed to see Prudy, and hear her say, “O, you darling sister!”

Then that wedding!  Those white slippers!

How they did all miss her at home!  Such dear friends as she had, and such beautiful things as were going to happen!

“But they are so good to me here!  I’ve behaved so well they love me dearly.  If I go home, I can’t stay here and have good times.  I should be happy if I was at my mother’s house and out West too!  Every time I’m glad, then there’s something else to make me sorry.”

So, between a smile and a tear, Dotty Dimple passed into the beautiful land of dreams; and the moon shone on a little face with a frown between the eyes and a dimple dancing in each cheek.

What happened to her on her way home and afterward will be told in the story of Dotty Dimple at Play.

[Illustration:  SOPHIE MAY’S “LITTLE FOLKS” BOOKS.]

“The authoress of THE LITTLE PRUDY STORIES would be elected Aunty-laureate if the children had an opportunity, for the wonderful books she writes for their amusement.  She is the Dickens of the nursery, and we do not hesitate to say develops the rarest sort of genius in the specialty of depicting smart little children.”—­Hartford Post.

LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON.

COPYRIGHT, 1834, BY LEE & SHEPARD.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  Portrait of Sophie May (Rebecca Sophia Clarke)]

The children will not be left without healthful entertainment and kindly instruction so long as SOPHIE MAY (Miss Rebecca S. Clarke) lives and wields her graceful pen in their behalf.  MISS CLARKE has made a close and loving study of childhood, and she is almost idolized by the crowd of ‘nephews and nieces’ who claim her as aunt.  Nothing to us can ever be quite so delightfully charming as were the ‘Dotty Dimple’ and the ‘Little Prudy’ books to our youthful imaginations, but we have no doubt the little folks of to-day will find the story of ‘Flaxie Frizzle’ and her young friends just as fascinating.  There is a sprightliness about all of MISS CLARKE’S books that attracts the young, and their purity, their absolute cleanliness, renders them invaluable in the eyes of parents and all who are interested in the welfare of children.”—­Morning Star.