“So it is,” cried the white furry people, laughing. “Don’t you know us?” And then she saw that these were really her own relations, only their dresses were new. “We are wearing ermine now,” said Mrs. Stoat proudly. “Oh, Mother, can’t I have an ermine dress too?” cried the youngest Stoat of all. “Nothing is being worn but ermine. I heard them say so.” “Something else is being worn by _you_, at any rate,” said Mrs. Stoat sternly. “You’ve been living in some warm nasty place. If you’d stayed here in the cold like a good little Stoat, instead of running away from home, you would have had an ermine dress like everyone else.” “Don’t you know, silly child,” said Mr. Stoat, “that we always get ermine coats in very cold winters? Then dogs can’t see us so well in the snow. It’s very cold still. If you try hard perhaps you can get an ermine coat like the rest of us.” But the smallest Stoat of all never got her ermine coat, for the spring came quite soon, and there has not been a really hard winter since. _E. Nesbit._ [Illustration] NELL’S SECRET. NELL had disappeared, and no one could find her anywhere. Poor Baby cried till his pretty eyes were all swollen and red, for Nell was his favourite playmate, and he missed her dreadfully. “Never mind, old man,” said Mother, kissing him. “She’ll come back again some day.” And so she did. One day a little half-starved ragged-looking dog came creeping up to the nursery, and Baby uttered a shout of joy. “Mamma, Mamma,” he cried, “Nell’s come back.” The good little dog licked Baby’s hands and face, and wagged her tail by way of saying, “How are you, darling Babs, after all this long time?” But, when Mother set a dish of food before her, she gobbled it up in no time, and then, scarcely waiting to say “Thank you,” she ran out of the nursery, downstairs, and after that no one knew what had become of her, for she was lost again. However, the next day she came back again, and the next, and the next, and one fine morning she trotted up to the nursery, dragging with her the sweetest little puppy you ever saw. Poor doggie! she was very proud of her little son, but oh! so frightened lest any harm should come to him. Mother picked up the fat little fellow and put him on a chair, and then lifted Baby up to look, and Nell jumped upon the chair beside her son, and looked piteously up into Mother’s face. “All right, old dog,” said Mother; “I wouldn’t harm your baby for anything, because you are always so good to mine.” Nell understood in a moment what Mother had said, jumped down from the chair, and ran towards the door, whining and looking back. [Illustration] Mother knew she was meant to follow; so she and Baby went with the little dog, who led them down the garden towards the stables, and then up into the hayloft, and there, behind a large truss of hay, they found four other dear little puppies, just like the one Nell had brought to the nursery.