THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS. 



21 



CHAPTER IV. 



A RAINY MORNING. 



T was a sweet moonlight evening, and Tom 

 and Hal walked slowly home with Johnny- 

 Webb. Rose was spending the evening with 

 Annie, and the boys were to call for her on 

 their way home. 



Mr. Webb's house was a large farm-house, standing with 

 its. gable towards the road, as so many of the New 

 England farm-houses were built long ago. The boys 

 opened a little wooden gate and walked towards the 

 house between two rows of Syringa and Lilac bushes, 

 until they reached the porch, where they found the girls. 

 Annie, who was lame from the effects of a fall received 

 when she was a very little girl, was lying on a lounge, 

 which Mrs. Webb had drawn to the door for her, her 

 sweet pale face looking lovely and quiet as the moon 

 shone upon it. Rose sat upon a low seat by her side. 



" Come, Johnny," said Annie, " tell me what the lesson 

 was about to-night." 



" O Annie ! Mr. Benedict says we must hunt next week 

 for the biggest butterfly you ever saw." 



Annie laughed heartily at Johnny's boyish eagerness. 



