The good lady was so anxious for everything to be exactly as the children liked it, that sometimes Laura felt quite at a loss what to say or do. One day, having cracked her egg-shell at breakfast, Mrs. Darwin peeped anxiously over her shoulder, saying, "I hope, my dear! your egg is all right?" "Most excellent indeed!" "Is it quite fresh?" "Perfectly! I dare say it was laid only a minute before it was boiled!" "I have seen the eggs much larger than that." "Yes! but then I believe they are rather coarse,--at least we think so, when Mrs. Crabtree gives us a turkey egg at dinner." "If you prefer them small, perhaps you would like a guinea-fowl's egg?" "Thank you! but this one is just as I like them." "It looks rather over-done! If you think so, we could get another in a minute!" "No! they are better well boiled!" "Then probably it is not enough done. Some people like them quite hard, and I could easily pop it into the slop-basin for another minute." "I am really obliged to you, but it could not be improved." "Do you not take any more salt with your egg?" "No, I thank you!" "A few more grains would improve it!" "If you say so, I dare say they will." "Ah! now I am afraid you have put in too much! pray do get another!" This long-continued attack upon her egg was too much for Laura's gravity, who appeared for some minutes to have a violent fit of coughing, and ending in a burst of laughter, after which she hastily finished all that remained of it, and thus ended the discussion. In the midst of all their happiness, while the children thought that every succeeding day had no fault but being too short, and Harry even planned with Peter to stop the clock altogether, and see whether time itself would not stand still, nobody ever thought for a moment of anything but joy; and yet a very sad and sudden distress awaited Mrs. Darwin. One forenoon she received a letter that seemed very hastily and awkwardly folded,--the seal was all to one side, and surrounded with stray drops of red wax,--the direction appeared sadly blotted, and at the top was written in large letters, the words, "To be delivered immediately." When Mrs. Darwin hurriedly tore open this very strange-looking letter, she found that it came from her own housekeeper in town, to announce the dreadful event that her sister, Lady Barnet, had been that day seized with an apoplectic fit, and was thought to be at the point of death, therefore it was hoped that Mrs. Darwin would not lose an hour in returning to town, that she might be present on the melancholy occasion. The shock of hearing this news was so very great, that poor Mrs. Darwin could not speak about it, but after trying to compose herself for a few minutes, she went into the play-room, and told the children that, for reasons she could not explain, they must get ready to return home in an hour, when the car would be at the door for their journey.