pleasure," groaned Lavinia from among her pillows.
"Very well, then, I leave you now, and shall expect to meet on the appointed day?"
"If I'm spared," answered the sufferer.
"I'll bring her, never fear," added the sanguine Mat, as she rattled the trays out of an immense trunk.
How they ever did it no one knows; but in a week every thing was ready, and the sisters had nothing left to do but to sit and receive the presents that showered upon them from all quarters. How kind every one was, to be sure! Six fine dressing-cases arrived, and were hung upon the walls; four smelling-bottles, one for each nostril; bed-socks; rigolettes; afghans; lunch-baskets; pocket-flasks; guide-books; needle-cases; bouquets in stacks; and a great cake with their names on top in red and blue letters three inches long.
Friendly fingers sewed for them; even the gentlemen of the house, and there were eight, had a "bee" and hemmed handkerchiefs for Mat, marked towels; and one noble being actually took off his coat and packed the trunks in layers of mosaic work wonder-
