"You boys never teased me as Tom did, that's the reason it amused me, I suppose; novelty hath charms, you know."
"Grandma used to lecture Tom for plaguing you, Polly, and he used to say "he'd be a tip-top boy, but he wasn't," observed Maud, with a venerable air.
"Dear old grandma; she did her best, but I'm a bad lot," said Tom, with a shake of the head and a sober face.
"It always seems as if she must be up in her rooms, and I can't get used to finding them empty," added Polly, softly.
"Father wouldn't have any thing moved, and Tom sits up there sometimes; it makes him feel good, he says," said Maud, who had a talent for betraying trifles which people preferred should not be mentioned in public.
"You'd better hurry up your apple, for if it isn't done pretty soon, you'll have to leave it, Pug," said Tom, looking annoyed.
"How is Fan?" asked Polly, with tact.
"Well, Fan is rather under the weather; says she's dyspeptic, which means cross."
"She is cross, but she's sick too, for I found her crying one day, and she said nobody cared about her, and she might as well be dead," added Maud, having turned her apple with tender care.
"We must try to cheer her up, among us. If I wasn't so busy I'd like to devote myself to her, she has done so much for me," said Polly, gratefully.
"I wish you could. I can't understand her, for she acts like a weathercock, and I never know how I'm
