Never did rosier and happier little women come dripping out of a storm than Essie and Ally that day.
“Oh!” cried Aunt Susan, meeting them in the hall “where have you three been? I’m afraid you’ve caught”—
“Give them hot baths at once, and let Maria and Aunt Rose rub them down hard, and put them to bed till dinner-time,” said Old Uncle. “They went off without asking you, and must be punished!” But how his eyes twinkled!
“Oh! I just love Old Uncle, don’t you?” asked Essie, as they slipped into the warm bed.
“And I guess he loves us now,” said Ally. And they chattered until they fell asleep, and woke only in time for dinner and dumplings.
VI.
AFTER DARK ON THE ICE.
The nuts had not been spread a great while, and the crew of loggers had gone up into the woods, when one day, well-clad for cold weather—the girls in their red cloaks and hoods and mittens, the boys in reefers and high boots and ear-laps—Charlie and Will swinging a parcel of glittering steel things led all the little southerners down to the lake.
“Oh!” cried Essie, “your Jack Frost has been here too, and has turned our blue lake into silver!”