got pinker and pinker. It was when she looked in the glass and
saw how mistaken her positiveness looked that her cheeks got so pink.
Tap--Tap--Tap her foot stamped on the rug. "Did--Did you know who it was
going to be----when you brought the dog?" she said. "That is,--did you
know when you first saw the advertisement in the paper." Her white
forehead got all black and frowny. "How in the world did you know--my
name?" she said.

Our Uncle Peter made an expression on his face. It was the
expression that our Mother calls his "Third-Helping-of-Apple-Pie
Expression,"--bold and unashamed.

"I asked the Grocer," he said.

"It was a--a great liberty," said the Lady.

"Was it?" said our Uncle Peter. He didn't seem as sorry as you'd have
expected.

The Lady looked at Carol. The Lady looked at me.

"How many children have you?" she said.

"None of my own," said our Uncle Peter. "But three of my brother
Philip's,--Carol and Ruthy as here observed, and Rosalee aet. eighteen
who is at present in Cuba engaging herself to be married."

"O--h," said the Lady.

"I am in short," said our Uncle Peter, "that object of Romance and Pity
popularly known as a 'Bachelor Uncle.'"

"O--h," said the Lady. She seemed more relieved than you'd have
supposed.

"But in my own case, of course--" said our Uncle Peter.

In the very midst of his own case he stopped right off short to look all
around the room again as though he was counting how heavy the toys were
and how heavy the money was that had bought the toys. All the twinkle
came back to his eyes.

"But in my own case," he said, "I've always known ahead--of course--for
a very long time--that I was going to have 'em.--Learned to sit lightly
on the idea,--re-balance my prejudices,--re-adjust my--"

"Have--what?" gasped the Lady.

"Nephews and nieces," said our Uncle Peter.

"O--h," said the Lady.

"Had their names all selected I mean," explained our Uncle Peter. "Their
virtues, their vices, their avocations, all decided upon.----Ruthy of
course might have done with less freckles, and Carol here doesn't quite
come up to specifications yet concerning muscle and brawn--and it was
never my original intention of course that any young whipper-snapper
niece of mine should engage herself to the first boy she fell in love
with.--But taken all in all,--all in all I say--"

"I think," frowned the Lady, "you are perfectly----absurd."

The word "absurd" didn't seem to be at all the word sh