to us. Dorothy
and I have plenty of room in the cottage, and it would be a very great
happiness to both of us--the greatest happiness that has come to me
since--since--"

She hesitated and Dorothy knew that she was thinking about the baby
brother who had died years ago.

"It does seem the best way," replied Mrs. Morton, "but--"

"'But me no buts'," quoted Mrs. Smith, smiling. "The baby's coming is
equally sudden to all of us, only I happen to be a bit better prepared
for an unexpected guest, because I have more space. Then Dorothy has
been just as crazy as the other girls to have a 'Belgian baby,' and she
shouted just as loudly as anybody at the pier--I heard her."

"Always excepting James," Ethel Brown reminded them and they all
laughed, remembering James and his Gallic salute.

"Don't take her tonight, Aunt Louise," begged Ethel Blue. "Let us have
her just one night. We can put Dicky's crib into our room between Ethel
Brown's bed and mine."

It was finally decided that Elisabeth should not be taken to Dorothy's
until the next day, but Mrs. Morton insisted on keeping her in her own
room for the night.

"She has such a slight hold on life that she ought to have an
experienced eye watching her for some time to come," she said.

All the girls assisted at the baby's going to bed ceremonies, and tall
Helen felt a catch in her throat no less than Ethel Blue at sight of the
wasted legs and arms and hollow chest.

"I wonder, now," said Aunt Louise when they had gone down stairs again,
leaving Ethel Blue and Ethel Brown to sit in the next room until their
own bedtime, so that the faintest whimper might not go unheard. "I
wonder where we are going to find some one competent to take care of
this baby. A child in such a condition needs more than ordinary care;
she needs skilled care."

"Mary might have some relatives," Dorothy began, when Helen made a
rushing suggestion.

"Why not go to the School of Mothercraft? You remember, it was at
Chautauqua for the summer? And it's back in New York now. I've been
meaning to ask you or Grandmother or Aunt Louise to take me there some
Saturday, only we've been so busy with the Ship we didn't have time for
anything else. You remember it?" she asked anxiously, for she had
especial reasons for wanting her mother to remember the School of
Mothercraft.

"Certainly I remember it, and I believe it will give us just what we
want now. It's a new sort of school," she explained to Mrs.