u, honey," ventured Uncle Bob after a short,
uneasy silence.

"About _me_! And it makes you look as solemn and ruffled up as this?
Whatever have I done? Did Mrs. Chandler telephone you about the puppy?
Don't worry. I do not mind if I don't have it--really I don't."

"No, dear, it wasn't the puppy. You shall have all the puppies you want
so far as I'm concerned," Uncle Bob answered, stroking the tiny hand
that nestled in his. "No, your Uncle Tom and I were talking about where
you are to live."

"But I thought I was to live here."

"I thought so too," agreed Uncle Bob. "Uncle Tom, though, is not
satisfied with that arrangement. He says he wants you to come and live
with him."

"But I couldn't leave you, Uncle Bob--you know that; at least, not for
all the time. If there were only two of me and I could live with each
of you how nice it would be. Of course I'd love to be with Uncle Tom
sometimes. Why couldn't I live with one of you part of the time and
with the other the rest of the year? I'd rather be here in the summer,
though, I think, because it's near the ocean."

How simple the great tangle over which the two men had argued suddenly
seemed!

"Jean has settled it herself!" Uncle Tom exclaimed. "It shall be
Pittsburgh winters and Boston summers. I wonder we didn't solve it that
way in the beginning."

So everybody was pleased. Even Hannah admitted that if that was the
best that could be done she would put up with it; but she made Uncle
Tom Curtis promise to lay in a big supply of soap.

"You must scrub her face and hands three times a day, and at least once
between meals if she is to live in Pittsburgh," remarked she. "And
please remember to have the grime soaked out of her white dresses, Mr.
Curtis. Borax and a little ammonia will do it," she concluded
seriously.

"We will wash not only the clothes in ammonia water, but Jean if you
say so, Hannah," promised Uncle Tom.

At this everybody laughed.

Then by and by they had luncheon, and Uncle Tom Curtis said it was a
much better meal than he had had at the Club the night before; and
Hannah said that maybe Pittsburgh was not so black as it was painted;
and Uncle Bob said he'd send the inside man to the Chandlers' to get
the puppy that very afternoon. And he did. And the puppy came, and he
was very small, and very fat, and very wobbly. His head was much too
large for him and so were his feet.

"You must name him Beacon Hill and call him Beacon for short, Je