as the girls rushed to the chimney-place to see wh

came through the kitchen a while ago, and when he heard you h

rused the two smalle

a then," added Dot,

, sure enough!

he hearth, to the unbounded amusement, if not am

r House, Sammy Pinkney had been an abundant source of exasperati

The Kenways and Aunt Sarah Maltby had been very poor in the city where they had lived in a cheap tenement. All they had for support was a small pension. Aunt Sar

phans. He had been Uncle Peter's man of business and was now

eaving a very small legacy indeed to Aunt Sarah. But Uncle Peter was queer, and at the last had hidden the w

their new station in life should be hers. The Court made Mr. Howbridge the girls' guardian, and the four sisters lived a rather preca

and Lillie were Uncle Peter's rightful heirs, Ruth took them in and treated them kindly in the absence

le Trouble") aroused Aunt Sarah's antagonism. To get them out of the house the queer o

ablished the rights of the Corner House girls to the

tance, entered the local schools, and became the friends, and finally the confidants, of Neale O'Neil, the boy who ha

elates their adventures at Pleasant Cove, where they went for their vacation the second summer of their sojourn in the old Corner House, and during w

tution doing excellent work in Milton, but not much appreciated by the townspeople at large. Tess quite falls in love with Mrs. Eland

goes about talking to anybody and everybody of the hospital's

efit of the Women's and Children's Hospital. Each member of the Corner House quartette had a part in the play, and

tely preceding this one, called "The Corner House Girls in a Play." Three thousand dollars was raised for th

Mrs. Eland is nursing her back to health. One reason for the decorating of the Corner House dining room is that the reu

the feet of the startled Corner House girls. As it squirmed, and

gings of the same material and trimming covered a pair of stout nether limbs; and upon these legs the little fig

ed the housekeeper. "What

mmy," said

said Ruth, smiling, "it

ed Agnes. "This must be a young Santa

folks' chimneys, that is sure," Ruth pursued. "I don

murmured Dot. "Are-are al

sick!" growled the mu

alks our langua

, the literal. "He's in my

Sammy Pinkney, and that sneer was someth

When I run away and get to b

hingly; Agnes giggled; Tess looked her disapproval of the savage young Santa Claus; while

Isn't he

whisper, for he rolled an approving eye in Dot's direction, and fi

'll make every one of

uite weak from laughter. But as Sammy Pinkne

ter?" growled the sav

d you get in the ch

f the chimbley. It was all right coming down, too," said the young rascal, "till I got to the second story. Th

step fixed before to-morrow night, hadn't we, Ruthie? Before

es, with a quickly serious face. "

ep in the chimney. At least, so Dot supposed when she awoke in the dark the very ne

ll "the middle of the night," and her small head was quite confused. She really tho

iage, it will be all smashed!" gasped Dot, and

ught to go to see how bad a fall Santa Claus had-and see if all his presents were s

ong the hall to the front of the house. Nobod

here a single dim gaslight flickered.

tal. A spotlight flashed and roved around the room-touching ceiling and walls

toys. Nothing but a broken brick lay there-probably loosened by Sam

he floor; and upon that cloth was stacked much of the choice old silver which Uncle Ruf