ch to keep from falling asleep when he
preached such awful long sermons.

Dick preached great sermons. They were so nice and short. It was such
fun to hear him thump the pulpit when he got excited; and when he got
more excited still he would lean over the pulpit, his face all white,
and talk so low and solemn that it would just send the most gorgeous
thrills through you.

Dick came to Owlwood--that's our place; I hate these
explanations--quite a lot, even before Aunt Tommy came. He and Father
were chums; they had been in college together and Father said Dick was
the best football player he ever knew. Jill and I soon got acquainted
with him and this was another uncanny thing. We had never thought it
possible to get acquainted with a minister. Jill said she didn't think
it proper for a real live minister to be so chummy. But then Jill was
a little jealous because Dick and I, being both men; were better
friends than he and she could be. He taught me to skate that winter
and fence with canes and do long division. I could never understand
long division before Dick came, although I was away on in fractions.

Jill has just been in and says I ought to explain that Dick's name
wasn't Dick. I do wish Jill would mind her own business. Of course it
wasn't. His real name was the Reverend Stephen Richmond, but Jill and
I always called him Dick behind his back; it seemed so jolly and
venturesome, somehow, to speak of a minister like that. Only we had to
be careful not to let Father and Mother hear us. Mother wouldn't even
let Father call Dick "Stephen"; she said it would set a bad example of
familiarity to the children. Mother is an old darling. She won't
believe we're half as bad as we are.

Well, early in May comes Aunt Tommy. I must explain who Aunt Tommy is
or Jill will be at me again. She is Father's youngest sister and her
real name is Bertha Gordon, but Father has always called her Tommy and
she likes it.

Jill and I had never seen Aunt Tommy before, but we took to her from
the start because she was so pretty and because she talked to us just
as if we were grown up. She called Jill Elizabeth, and Jill would
adore a Hottentot who called her Elizabeth.

Aunt Tommy is the prettiest girl I ever saw. If Jill is half as
good-looking when she gets to be twenty--she's only ten now, same age
as I am, we're twins--I shall be proud of her for a sister.

Aunt Tommy is all white and dimpled. She has curly red hair and big
jolly bro