"Good for you, Joe!" cried Ben, approvingly.

"Pooh!" exclaimed Joel, twisting off, his face getting redder
and redder. "Mamsie, stop 'em--do;" yet he liked it very much.

"Oh, Ben," cried Polly, after the last scrap of the wonderful
cake had disappeared, the dishes were cleared away, and Phronsie
put to bed, and everything was spick-span once more, "I've just
thought of something perfectly splendid!"

"What is it?" cried Joel, who, despite all his efforts, was just
beginning to think of the circus again. "Do tell, Polly! Now
you're goin' to whisper with Ben, and you won't tell us."

"No, I shan't--and yes, I will," said Polly, all in the same breath.
"It's this, Mamsie. Mayn't we have a little play out in the
orchard next Wednesday, and can't Joel and David sit up a little
longer to-night to talk it over? I've just thought of something
splendid to act."

"Oh, may we, may we?" cried the two boys, in a tumult.

"Instead of the circus," Polly's brown eyes were saying. "Do,
Mammy."

"Yes, you may," said Mrs. Pepper, indulgently, "sit up half an
hour longer."

"We've had a cake to-night, and now Mamsie's going to let you
two boys sit up. I think nobody ever had such a perfectly