Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/34

 big now, and have got grown-up growls. I thought perhaps you'd like to hear about 'em."

Oh, wouldn't they? Both children crept close to him, and drank in every word with red cheeks and round eyes.

"Bears!" cried Max, quite stuttering with excitement. "I didn't know there were any in the Forest. Oh, do go on!"

"They used to lie all curled up in a heap," continued February, "at the bottom of a nest in the rocks, which their mother had lined with leaves and moss to keep them warm. They looked just like funny bundles of brown hair. There were four of them,—Snap, Snooze, Roll-about, and Greedy. Roll-about was the fattest and the best-natured, but they were all nice. They lay tangled together, and couldn't help pulling each other's fur a good deal; but they quarrelled much less than most brothers and sisters who live in such close quarters.

"I went away before they were old enough to