d very thoughtful,
and, above all, very patient. For the little sister she had to take care
of was, I am afraid, a very spoilt little girl when she first came home.
Grandfather had spoiled her without meaning it; he was so sorry for her
because she had no mother, and Helen was so sorry for her too, that it
was rather difficult for her not to spoil her as well."

Here Baby himself "inrumpted."

"Him doesn't understand," he said. "Who _were_ that little girl? Him
wants a story about mother when _her_ was a little girl;" and the
corners of his mouth went down, and his eyes grew dewy-looking, in a
very sad way.

[Illustration: There was one trunk which took my fancy more than
all the others.--P. 30.]

"Poor Baby," said mother. "I'll try and tell it more plainly. _I_ was
that little girl, and auntie was my sister Helen. I must get on with my
little story. I was forgetting that Baby would not quite understand.
Well, one day to my great delight, Helen told me that grandfather was
going to take her and me and the two brothers, who were then at home, to
spend Christmas with one of our aunts in London. This aunt had children
too, and though I had never seen them Helen told me they were very nice,
for she knew them well, as she used to go there for her holidays before
we came home. She told me most about a little girl called Lilly, who was
just about my age. I had never had a little friend of my own age, and I
was always talking and thinking about how nice it would be, and I was
quite vexed with Helen because she would not begin to pack up at once. I
was always teasing her to know what trunks we should take, and if all my
dolls might go, and I am sure poor Helen often wished she had not told
me anything about it till the very day before. I got in the way of going
up to the big attic where the trunks were kept, and of looking at them
and wondering which would go, and wishing Helen would let me have one
all for myself and my dolls and their things. There was one trunk which
took my fancy more than all the others. It was an old-fashioned
trunk, but it must have been a very good one, for it shut with a sort of
spring, and inside it had several divisions, some with little lids of
their own, and I used to think how nice it would be for me, I could put
all my dolls in so beautifully, and each would have a kind of house for
itself. I don't remember how I managed to get it open, perhaps it had
been a little open when I first began