Walker, you know very well how
horrid it would have been to have a step-mother."
Emily sat down and looked about her. A very large slate, swung on a
stand like a looking-glass, stood on the edge of the carpet. On it were
written these words: "I cry, 'Jam satis,'" John's writing evidently, and
of great size. She had no time, however, to learn what it meant, for,
with a shout like a war-whoop, Johnnie's voice was heard below, and
presently, as it were, driving his little brothers and sisters before
him, Johnnie himself came blundering up-stairs at full speed with
Crayshaw on his back. "Bolt it, bolt the door," panted Crayshaw; and
down darted one of the girls to obey. "And you kids sit down on the
floor every one of you, that you mayn't be theen below, and don't make a
thound," said Johnnie, depositing Crayshaw on a couch, while Barbara
began to fan him. "They're coming up the lane," were Johnnie's first
words, when the whole family was seated on the floor like players at
hunt the slipper. "You won't tell, Mrs. Walker?"
"Not tell what, to whom?" asked Emily.
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