“Oh, horrible!” cried Victoria. “Sophy’s eyes look as big as saucers. Don’t tell any more such dreadful tales, Peter. We won’t raise that kind, at any rate. Have you decided where to have the beds?” “That’s just what we were talking about before you came out. I was thinking of the shed at the back of the barn, and Carney thinks that would be a good place. I don’t believe out of doors will do in our climate; and Smith, the man at Fordham, said the shed was the best. I wish we could make a regular mushroom house, like the ones they show pictures of in these pamphlets, but I suppose it would cost a good deal.” “We had better wait until next year for that,” said the practical Victoria. “Then we can tell whether they are going to pay or not.” They discussed the matter for some time, until the gathering darkness warned Victoria that it was time for her and Sophy to go back to the house; and they left the boys still absorbed in the subject. The next day was Saturday, and it was decided to make use of the holiday by arranging the mushroom bed. The boys followed closely the directions for doing this, which were given in their pamphlets; but after making the bed, they were forced to wait for a few days before introducing the seed, or spawn, until the temperature of the bed should have reached the proper degree. This they were to discover by means of the ground thermometer which Peter had purchased. The day being Saturday, Victoria was free to go to Boston to call upon her aunt. The girls had further discussed the matter the evening before, and had decided that Victoria’s plan must be followed, if they wished to avert the ruin which seemed to be staring them in the face. If Aunt Sophia declined to buy the pictures which they had determined to sell, they must be disposed of in some other way. Victoria had a private plan of her own for raising some ready money, but of this she had said nothing to her sisters. She went to Boston in one of the early trains with a large flat package under her arm, and a small but heavy one in her pocket. The day was a fine one, and the streets were filled with Christmas shoppers, the stores being already crowded, early in the morning though it was. Victoria walked quickly from the station to her aunt’s house. The world seemed very bright this morning, even though bills were unpaid and prospects dreary. As the young girl hurried along, one might easily have imagined from her happy face and her well-dressed figure that she was in the most comfortable circumstances possible, and that her package was a Christmas present which she had purchased, instead of being four of her father’s precious etchings with which the sisters, after much hesitation and disinclination, had decided to part.