e got awful mad 'cause papa
licked 'em when they touched a match to the old shed to see how the
people on the desert put out fires."

"She said they never should come again," added Inez, "but I guess she's
forgot."

"How old are they?" ventured Gloriana.

"Williard's between me and Susie," Mercedes answered, "and Theodore's
between Susie and the twins."

"Are you going to let them come?" demanded Irene.

Mercedes turned helplessly toward Tabitha. "What would you do, Kitty?"
she asked. "Shall I write and ask mamma?"

"I shouldn't," Tabitha promptly replied. "Your mother has her hands
full now, and it would only worry her to know how nervy your Aunt Kate
is. I'd write her,--your aunt, I mean,--and tell her just how things
stand, your father in the hospital and your mother with him. She ought
to know more than to send them then. Still, I believe I'd just say
that the boys can't come. She would understand that all right. And
I'll be responsible, Mercedes, if your mother should think we ought to
have told her about it first."

"_I'd_ telegraph, so's to be sure," said Susanne. "Aunt Kate doesn't
think much about other folks' wishes, and if she wanted to go to Europe
bad enough, she'd ship the boys to us if we all had smallpox."

"That's a good idea," Tabitha acknowledged. "We'll telegraph at once,
and then she will have no excuse for not knowing how sick your father
is. Where is there a pencil and paper? I'll write out a telegram now,
and we'll slip down town, and send it to-night."

She hastily scribbled the words:

"Mrs. Dennis McKittrick,
Jamaica Plains, Mass.

Don't send boys. Father in Los Angeles hospital. Mother with him.

MERCEDES McKITTRICK."

Then taking Irene as company, she carried the message to the telegraph
station that same evening, to make sure it reached its destination in
time to prevent the threatened visit from the unwelcome cousins.

"Perhaps I acted in a high-handed manner," she confessed to Gloriana,
as they were preparing for bed that night, "but I couldn't bear to
think of that selfish old cat--yes, that's what she is,--imposing upon
Mrs. McKittrick again. I remember the boys, though it was quite a
while ago that they were here. They were only little shavers then,
too. I never met them, but one doesn't have to in order to know all
they want to know about their antics."

"And judging from our first day's experiences as housekeepers in this
family, we shal