Aunt Annie had offered to give them what they needed from her stock of pretty things. But no, they must buy all with their own money, or it would not be quite their own presents. As soon as their walking dresses were taken off, Aunt Annie was coaxed to show them at once how the book-marks were to be made. She told them they must first decide what mottoes they would work, and proposed several. Maggie chose, "Remember me;" and Bessie, "I love you, Sir." Annie said it was not the fashion to put "Sir" on a book-mark; but Bessie thought it would not be at all the thing for little girls to give "unpolite presents."
"We ought to make our book-marks just as proper as our own speaking," she insisted.
Maggie was a little doubtful; but at last she said she would do as Bessie did, since it was "better to be too polite than not polite enough." So Aunt Annie let them have their way, and greatly to her own amusement, cut the card long enough for "I love you, Sir," and "Remember me, ma'am." They did not think it any the less their own work that their aunt put the points of the needles into the holes where they were to go. Did they not pull them through with their own fingers and draw the silk to its proper place? Of course, it was their own work; Aunt Annie would not have said it was hers on any account. After two or three letters were made, Maggie learned to find the right hole for herself with a good deal of direction.
Before bed-time that night, Maggie had worked "Remem," and Bessie, "I lo;" and they looked at what they had done with great satisfaction. Besides these book-marks, they were each to work one for papa or mamma, so that they had enough to keep them busy until Christmas.
Meanwhile the picture which Aunt Helen was painting was nearly finished. She had never allowed Maggie to see it, which the little girl thought very strange; but she had kept the secret well. Sometimes they went to Riverside, and sometimes Aunt Helen came to grandmamma's house, when they would be sent for; and if mamma was not there, their aunt would paint very industriously. Bessie wondered why she would not let them see what she was painting, and why Maggie should always be so full of glee at such times, and shake her head so very wisely. But after she had been once told that it was a secret, she asked no more questions.
On the morning after the book-marks were commenced, Mrs. Bradford, who was not very well, was lying on the sofa, while her little daughters were playing quietly on the other side of the room, and she heard them talking together.
"Bessie," said Maggie, "I am so glad that I have all my towels done, so I can have leisure to make my Christmas presents."
"What does leisure mean?" asked Bessie.
"It means not to be busy."