sands of miles away, as mine are. When Alice is better, you will be able to go home. And it will help

your mother if she thinks you are almost as happy as if you could go now."

Soon Miss Ware came to tell Bertie how sorry she was for him.

"After all," said she, smiling down on the two boys, "it is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Poor Tom has been expecting to spend his holidays alone, and now he will have a friend with him. Try to look on the bright side, Bertie, and to remember how much

worse it would have been if there had been no boy to stay with you."

"I can't help being disappointed, Miss Ware," said Bertie, his eyes filling with tears.

"No; you would be a strange boy if you were not. But I want you to try to think of your poor mother, and write her as cheerfully as you can."

"Yes," answered Bertie; but his heart was too full to say more.

The last day of the term came, and one by one or two by two, the boys went away, until only Bertie and Tom were left in the great house. It had never seemed so large to either of them before.

"It's miserable," groaned poor Bertie, as they strolled into the schoolroom. "Just think if we were on our way home now-how different!"

"Just think if I had been left here by myself," said Tom.

"Yes," said Bertie; "but you know when one wants to go home he never thinks of the boys that have no home to go to."

The evening passed, and the two boys went to bed. They told stories to each other for a long time before they could go to sleep. That night they dreamed of their homes, and felt very lonely. Yet each tried to be brave, and so another day began.

This was the day before Christmas. Quite early in the morning came the great box of which Bertie's mother had spoken in her letter. Then, just as dinner had come to an end, there was a peal at the bell, and a voice was heard asking for Tom Egerton.

Tom sprang to his feet, and flew to greet a tall, handsome lady, crying, "Aunt Laura! Aunt Laura!"

Aunt Laura explained that she and her husband had arrived in London only the day before. "I was so afraid, Tom," she said, "that we should not get here until Christmas Day was over, and that you would be disappointed. So I would not let your mother write you that we were on our way home. You must get your things packed up at once, and go back with me to London. Then uncle and I will give you a splendid time."

For a minute or two Tom's face shone with delight. Then he caught sight of Bertie, and turned to his aunt.

"Dear Aunt Laura," he said, "I am very sorry, but I can't go."

"Can't go? - and why not?"

"Because I can't go and leave Bertie here all alone," he said stoutly. "When I was going to be alone he wrote and asked his mother to let me go home with him. She could not have either of us be

cause Bertie's sister has scarlet fever. He has to stay here, and he has never been away from home at Christmas before, and I can't go away and leave him by himself, Aunt Laura."

For a minute, Aunt Laura looked at the boy as if she could not believe him. Then she caught him in her arms and kissed him.

"You dear little boy, you shall not leave him. You shall bring him along, and we shall all enjoy ourselves together. Bertie, my boy, you are not very old yet, but I am going to teach you a lesson as well as I can. It is that kindness is never wasted in this world."

And so Bertie and Tom found that there was such a thing as a fairy, after all.

EXPRESSION: Do you believe in fairies? Read the story silently, and then tell who the Christmas fairy was. What season is named in the story? Read the story in parts, as follows:

(1) What happened the first day?

(2) What happened in a few days' time?

(3) What happened on Christmas day?

Read again the conversation of the boys when they were first talking of going home. Read what Tom said to Aunt Laura. Read her replies.

What sentence on page 112 is best worth remembering? WORD STUDY: skates, scarlet; suggested, disappointed; holidays, relatives; miserable, different; sobbed, declared.

ROBINSON CRUSOE'S PETS

The story of Robinson Crusoe was written about two hundred years ago. Its author was Daniel Defoe, an Englishman. Al

though written for the amusement of grownup people, it has always been a favorite with boys, and there are few books that are more pleasing to them. Robinson Crusoe,

when a lad, was very anxious to become a

sailor. As soon as he was old enough, he went to sea. He sailed to many strange lands and saw many wonderful things. At last, in a terrible storm his ship was wrecked. All

the rest of the sailors were drowned; and he was cast by the waves upon the shore of an uninhabited island.

He says: Here I was lord of the whole island; in