"Shall I really? How nice it smells." And Rose willingly received
the pretty pillow, and stood enjoying its faint, sweet odour, as she
listened to the doctor's next remedy.

"This is the cup I told you of. Its virtue depends, they say, on the
drinker filling it himself; so you must learn to milk. I'll teach you."

"I'm afraid I never can," said Rose; but she surveyed the cup with
favour, for a funny little imp danced on the handle, as if all ready to
take a header into the white sea below.

"Don't you think she ought to have something more strengthening than
milk, Alec? I really shall feel anxious if she does not have a tonic of
some sort," said Aunt Plenty, eyeing the new remedies suspiciously, for
she had more faith in her old-fashioned doses than all the magic cups
and poppy pillows of the East.

"Well, ma'am, I'm willing to give her a pill, if you think best. It is
a very simple one, and very large quantities may be taken without harm.
You know hasheesh is the extract of hemp? Well, this is a preparation of
corn and rye, much used in old times, and I hope it will be again."

"Dear me, how singular!" said Aunt Plenty, bringing her spectacles to
bear upon the pills, with a face so full of respectful interest that it
was almost too much for Dr. Alec's gravity.

"Take one in the morning, and a good-night to you, my dear," he said,
dismissing his patient with a hearty kiss.

Then, as she vanished, he put both hands into his hair, exclaiming, with
a comical mixture of anxiety and amusement,

"When I think what I have undertaken, I declare to you, aunt, I feel
like running away and not coming back till Rose is eighteen!"

Chapter 5--A Belt and a Box

When Rose came out of her chamber, cup in hand, next morning, the first
person she saw was Uncle Alec standing on the threshold of the room
opposite, which he appeared to be examining with care. When he heard her
step, he turned about and began to sing,

"Where are you going, my pretty maid?"

"I'm going a-milking, sir, she said," answered Rose, waving the cup; and
then they finished the verse together in fine style.

Before either spoke, a head, in a nightcap so large and beruffled that
it looked like a cabbage, popped out of a room farther down the hall,
and an astonished voice exclaimed,

"What in the world are you doing about so early?"

"Clearing our pipes for the day, ma'am. Look here, auntie, can I have
this room?" said Dr. Alec, making her a sai