and said:

"I think I'll try to catch the earlier train, my dear, as I am coming
back so soon."

Mrs. Burton arose to bid her husband Good-by, and was kissed with
more than usual tenderness, and then held at arm's length, while
manly eyes looked into her own with an expression which she found
untranslatable--for two hours at least. Mrs. Burton saw her husband
fairly on his way, and then she returned to the dining-room, led Toddie
into the parlor, took him upon her lap, wound her arms tenderly about
him, and said:

"Now, Toddie, dear, listen carefully to what Aunt Alice tells you. There
are some reasons why you boys should not go with us to-day, and Aunt
Alice means just what she says when she tells you you can't go with us.
If you were to ask a hundred times it would not make the slightest bit
of difference. You cannot go, and you must stop thinking about it."

Toddie listened intelligently from beginning to end, and replied:

"But I _wantsh_ to go."

"And you can't. That ends the matter."

"No, it don't," said Toddie, "not a single bittle. I wantsh to go badder
than ever."

"But you are not going."

"I wantsh to go so baddy," said Toddy, beginning to cry.

"I suppose you do, and auntie is very sorry for you," said Mr. Burton,
kindly; "but that does not alter the case. When grown people say 'No!'
little boys must understand that they mean it."

"But what I wantsh izh to go a-widin' wif you," said Toddie.

"And what _I_ want is, that you shall stay at home; so you must," said
Mrs. Burton. Let us have no more talk about it now. Shouldn't you like
to go into the garden and pick some strawberries all for yourself?"

"No; I'd like to go widin'."

"Toddie," said Mrs. Burton, "don't let me hear one more word about
riding."

"Well, I want to go."

"Toddie, I will certainly have to punish you if you say any more on this
subject, and that will make me very unhappy. You don't want to make
auntie unhappy on her birthday, do you?"

"No; but I do want to go a-widin'."

"Listen Toddie," said Mrs. Burton, with an imperious stamp of her foot,
and a sudden loss of her entire stock of patience. "If you say one more
word about that trip, I will lock you up in the attic chamber, where you
were day before yesterday, and Budge shall not be with you."

[Illustration: TODDIE SUDDENLY FOUND HIMSELF CLASPED TIGHTLY IN HIS
AUNT'S ARMS, IN WHICH POSITION HE KICKED, PUSHED, SCREAMED, AND ROARED,
DURING THE PASSAGE OF TWO FLI