ent it, or
laugh with them? Martin took the bull by the horns.

"Shall I tell you a story, my dears?" she said, "of what I once did on
one of my birthdays when I was little? It came into my mind the other
day, and I wonder I never told it you before, for it's something like
the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood,' that Miss Hoodie got her name
from."

"No, no, Martin. Hoodie didn't get her name from that," said Maudie
eagerly. "It was this way. Mother got her a little hood _like_ Red
Riding Hood's in our picture--only it was pink and not scarlet, and
Hoodie liked it so, she screamed when they took it off, and once she
was ill and she screamed so for it that they had to put it on her even
in bed, and she had it on three days running."

"Zee days zunning," repeated Hoodie, nodding her head with great
satisfaction. She was evidently very proud of this legend of her
infancy.

"Dear me!" said Martin, "that was a funny fancy, to be sure. But the
hood wouldn't be so pretty after that."

"No, of course," said Maudie. "It was all crumpled up and spoilt. And
mamma got her a new one, but Hoodie wouldn't have it on, and so after
that she didn't have hoods any more, only she was always called Hoodie."

"Always called Hoodie," reiterated the heroine of this remarkable
anecdote, quite restored to good humour by finding herself looked upon
as a historical character.

"And now, Martin, what did you do on your birthday?" said Magdalen.

"It was when I was eight," said Martin. "We lived in the country and we
had a nice little farm. My father managed the farm and my mother had the
dairy. And my old grandmother lived about three miles off in a little
cottage near a wood--that was one thing that made me say it was like Red
Riding Hood. I was very fond of going to see my grandmother, and I
always counted it one of my treats. So the day before my birthday mother
said to me, 'Janie, you shall go to your grandmother's to-morrow, if you
like, as it is your birthday, and I'll pack a little basket for you to
take to her, with some fresh eggs and butter. And I'll make a little
cake for you to take too, and you shall stay to tea with her and have
the cake to eat.'"

"Had it pums in?" said Hec.

"And laisins?" added Duke.

"Silly boy," said Hoodie from the elevation of her five years, "pums
_is_ laisins."

"Oh," said Duke submissively.

"Do on, Martin, do on, kick, kick, Martin," said Hoodie, "gee-up-ping"
on her footstool as if Martin