t guides--some have
it, some haven't it. You can't explain it. Doc Macnooder for instance
could diagnose a pocket-book as keenly as a surgeon. It's a gift, that's
all. Skippy possessed this gift.

"Mother just brought you in?"

Hippo acknowledged this with a look of the greatest distress.

"Sister too?"

"Damn it, yes!"

Skippy looked at Snorky and shook his head.

"Don't you know that profanity is a wicked, wicked habit, Hippo?"

Hippo's mouth started to swallow his ears, then returned to rest at
signs of a hostile atmosphere. He swung from foot to foot, looked
sheepish, looked terrified and finally blurted out:

"I beg pardon, sir."

"It is a wicked habit, Hippo, but we are here to help you. It is very
lucky for you that you have come to the right school, where you will
meet boys of fine manly standards. Kneel down, Hippo."

"What, sir?"

"Go over to the bed and kneel down," said Skippy in a voice of great
sadness. "Don't hesitate, Hippo. That's better. Now, Hippo, I want you
to reflect upon what a wicked, wicked thing profanity is and I want you
to ask God to forgive you and help you. Silently, Hippo."

Hippo, who was green and fresh but not at all green and gullible, went
through the prescribed program with the utmost gravity.

"Do you feel better now, Hippo?" said Snorky solemnly.

"Yes, sir, but I'd like a little more time, sir."

"Stand up," said Skippy frowning.

Hippo, unchastened, bounded to his feet and saluted.

"And, Hippo, I'm afraid," said Skippy relentlessly, "that you don't
appreciate what a mother's love means. Think how your mother has watched
over you all these years, think how she has scrubbed behind your ears,
think of the hundreds and hundreds of toothbrushes--"

But at this, as Snorky gulped and barely converted a laugh into a sneeze
with a hurried dive into the closet, Skippy abandoning his pedagogical
air said in a more natural tone:

"Well, Hippo, I shall want to talk with you very seriously on this some
other time. Your manners are shocking and your morals worse, but I am
here. Don't worry. Meanwhile, ahem, you can bring your family in to
tea."

"Thank you, kind sir."

"Hippo, you are fresh."

"But you _are_ kind, aren't you, sir?" said Hippo with assumed
innocence.

"Get your hat and wait downstairs," said Skippy deciding to abandon the
lighter tone.

"Yes, sir."

"Hippo?"

"What, sir?"

"Don't forget."

"What, sir?"

"The curtsey, you know."