Nellie's Housekeeping

NELLIE, will you come down to the beach now?" "No " with as much shortness and sharpness as the little word of two letters could well convey. "Why not?" "Oh because I can't. Don't bother me." And, laying down the pencil with which she had been writing, Nellie Ransom pushed back the hair from her flushed, heated face, drew a long, weary sigh, took up the Bible which lay at her elbow, and, turning over the leaf, ran her finger slowly and carefully down the page before her. Carrie stood with one elbow upon the corner of the table at which her sister sat, her chin resting in her palm as she discontentedly watched Nellie, while with the other hand she swung back and forth by one string the broad straw hat she was accustomed to wear when playing out of doors. "I think you might," she said presently. "Mamma says I can't go if you don't, and I want to go so."