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help entertain; but I am
afraid it will be a sad bore. Miss Minnie Wall, the oldest of the young
ladies, is but just fourteen; and Bessie Rider, the youngest, is not yet
six."
"But I came to visit my little wife," persisted Mr. Burroughs, laughing
gayly.
"Here she is, then, with all the rest behind her;" and, as the little hostess
caught sight of her new guest, she flew toward him, crying,--
"Oh, my little wife has come!--my little, wife!"
Every one laughed, except the young man thus oddly addressed, who
gravely extended his hand, saying,--
"Miss 'Toinette, allow me to wish you many happy returns of this
fortunate day."
'Toinette looked at him a moment in surprise, then, glancing at the
other guests, said innocently,--
"I guess you talk that way because the girls are here; but I like the way
you are always, best."
This time Tom laughed as loud as the rest, and, catching the child in his
arms, kissed her a dozen times, saying,--
"That is it, Sunshine. Let us be natural, and have a good time. Get the
table-cloth, and make an elephant of me."

CHAPTER III.
CHERRYTOE.

"LET us have a dance!" exclaimed Minnie Wall, when all the games
had been played, and the little people stood for a moment, wondering
what they should do next.
"O Mrs. Legrange! will you play for us?"
"Certainly. What will you have, Minnie? But, in the first place, can you
all dance?"
"Yes'm, every one of us. Even 'Toinette and Bessie have learned at
their Kindergarten; and the rest of us all go to Mr. Papanti. O Mrs.
Legrange! last Saturday, when you let Susan bring 'Toinette to
dancing-school, I told Mr. Papanti what a pretty little dancer she was;
and he made her stand up, and she learned the cachuca with half a
dozen others of us; and he did laugh and bow so at her, you never saw;
and he called her enfant Cherrytoe, or something like that"--
"Cerito," suggested Mrs. Legrange, smiling.
"Yes'm, I guess that was it; and she learned it beautifully. Have you
seen her dance it?"
"Yes, the old gentleman called me Cherrytoe; and you must, mamma,
and every one, because I dance so pretty, with my little toes. Will you
call me Cherrytoe always, mamma?" asked 'Toinette, with such a
complacent delight in her own accomplishments, that her mother's
smile was sad as it was tender. But she felt that this was not the time or
place to reprove the vanity so rankly springing in the child's heart; so
she only said,--
"Mr. Papanti was in fun when he called you Cherrytoe, darling. She
was a woman who danced better than I hope you ever will. Now, who
is ready for Virginia reel?"

Tom Burroughs led Minnie Wall to the head of the set, other children
rushed for places, Mrs. Legrange seated herself at the piano, and the
merry dance went on; but, when it was over, Minnie Wall returned to
Mrs. Legrange's side, followed by two or three more, begging her to
play the cachuca, and see how nicely 'Toinette could dance it. Half
unwillingly the mother complied, and found really astonished as she
noticed the graceful evolutions and accurate time of the child, who
went through the intricate motions of the dance without a single
mistake, and, at the close, dropped her little courtesy, and kissed her
little hand, with the grace and self-possession of a danseuse.
The children crowded around her with a clamor of delight and surprise;
but the mother, anxiously watching her darling's flushed face and
sparkling eyes, whispered to her cousin, as he playfully applauded,--
"Oh, don't, Tom! The child will be utterly ruined by so much flattery
and admiration. I feel very badly about it, I assure you."
"But she is absolutely so bewitching! How can we help admiring her?"
replied he, laughing.
"No: but it is wrong; it won't do," persisted Mrs. Legrange. "Just see
how excited and happy she looks because they are all admiring her!
You must help me to check it, Tom. Come, you are so famous for
stories, tell them one about a peacock, or something,--a story with a
moral about being vain, you know, only not too pointed."
"A pill with a very thick sugar-coat," suggested Mr. Burroughs, and, as
his cousin nodded, continued, in a louder voice,--
"A story, ladies and gentlemen! Who will listen to the humble attempts
of an unfortunate improvisator?"
"Yes, yes, a story; let us have a story!" shouted with one accord both
girls and boys; and with 'Toinette perched upon his knee, and the rest
grouped about him, Cousin Tom began the story of THE CHILDREN
OF MERRIGOLAND.

CHAPTER IV.
THE CHILDREN OF MERRIGOLAND.

ONCE upon a time, in the pleasant