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Rh snow-sister does look very lovely. I did not quite know, Peony, that we could make such a sweet little girl as this.&rdquo; The mother, as she listened, thought how fit and delightful an incident it would be, if fairies, or still better, if angel-children were to come from paradise, and play invisibly with her own darlings, and help them to make their snow-image, giving it the feature of celestial babyhood! Violet and Peony would not be aware of their immortal playmates,&mdash;only they would see that the image grew very beautiful while they worked at it, and would think that they themselves had done it all.

&ldquo;My little girl and boy deserve such playmates, if mortal children ever did!&rdquo; said the mother to herself; and then she smiled again at her own motherly pride.

Nevertheless, the idea seized upon her imagination; and, ever and anon, she took a glimpse out of the window, half dreaming that she might see the golden-haired children of paradise sporting with her own golden-haired Violet and bright-cheeked Peony.

Now, for a few moments, there was a busy and earnest, but indistinct hum of the two children&rsquo;s voices, as Violet and Peony wrought together with one happy consent. Violet still seemed to be the guiding spirit, while Peony acted rather as a laborer, and brought her the snow from far and near. And yet the little urchin evidently had a proper understanding of the matter, too!

&ldquo;Peony, Peony!&rdquo; cried Violet; for her brother was again at the other side of the garden. &ldquo;Bring me those light wreaths of snow that have rested on the lower branches of the pear-tree. You can clamber on