“Dear Clover,—­Don’t forget what you promised.  I mene about not showing this.  And don’t tell Lilly I rote.  If you do, she’ll be as mad as hops.  I haven’t been doing much since you went away.  School begun yesterday, and I am glad; for it’s awfully dull now that you girls have gone.  Mother says Guest has got flees on him, so she won’t let him come into the house any more.  I stay out in the barn with him insted.  He is well, and sends you a wag of his tail.  Jim and me are making him a colar.  It is black, with G.P. on it, for Guest Page, you know.  A lot of the boys had a camping out last week.  I went.  It was real jolly; but ma wouldn’t let me stay all night, so I lost the best part.  They roasted scullpins for supper, and had a bon-fire.  The camp was on Harstnet Hill.  Next time you come I’ll take you out there.  Pa has gone to Mane on bizness.  He said I must take care of the house, so I’ve borrowed Jim’s gun, and if any robers come I mean to shoot them.  I always go to sleep with a broom agenst the door, so as to wake up when they open it.  This morning I thought they had come, for the broom was gone, and the gun too; but it was only Briget.  She opened the door, and it fell down; but I didn’t wake up, so she took it away, and put the gun in the closset.  I was mad, I can tell you.

“This is only a short letter, but I hope you will answer it soon. 
Give my love to Katy, and tell Dorry that if he likes I’ll send him
my compas for his machenery, because I’ve got two. 
                         “Your affectionate Cousin,
                                       “Clarence Page.”

This was the last of the budget.  As Clover folded it up, she was dismayed by the tinkle of the tea-bell.

“Oh, dear!” she cried, “there’s tea, and I have not finished my letter to Elsie.  Where has the afternoon gone!  How splendid it has been!  I wish I could have four letters every day as long as I live.”

CHAPTER XI.  CHRISTMAS BOXES.

October was a delightful month, clear and sparkling; but early in November the weather changed, and became very cold.  Thick frosts fell, every leaf vanished from the woods, in the gardens only blackened stalks remained to show where once the summer flowers had been.  In spite of the stove outside the door, No. 2 began to be chilly; more than once Katy found her tooth-brush stiff with ice in the morning.  It was a fore-taste of the what the winter was to be, and the girls shivered at the prospect.

Toward the end of November Miss Jane caught a heavy cold.  Unsparing of herself as of others, she went on hearing her classes as usual; and nobody paid much attention to her hoarseness and flushed cheeks, until she grew so much worse that she was forced to go to bed.  There she stayed for nearly four weeks.  It made a great change in the school; and the girls found it such a relief to have her sharp voice and eyes taken away that I am afraid they were rather glad of her illness than otherwise.