inevitably come to them, she laid one very
solemn command upon her household.

'On no account whatever let out to Mrs Sinclair, and Mrs Potts, and Mr
Martin that there is a baby in the house. If you do, go they will, and
nothing that I can possibly say will keep them. I'm terribly frightened
to think how the baby's existence can be kept from them, but if they know
it, most certainly go they will.'

'Mother,' said Flossy, who was rather afraid of her mother, and did not
often put a direct question to her, 'if the baby stays up in the old, old
attic-nursery, and if Pete and me and Snip can play with it and it never
cries, then Mrs Potts and Mr Martin needn't know nothing about it, need
they, mother?'

'If it never cries, Flossy, they need not know about it,' answered Mrs
Franklin; 'but whoever yet heard of a baby not crying? Of course it will
cry all day and all night. I know it will be the ruin of us, and I think
it was very unkind of your father to allow it to be brought here.'

'But suppose, mother, Pete and I play with the baby, and we make it so
happy that it doesn't cry?' answered little Flossy.

Mrs Franklin gave a short sniff, and said in decidedly an unbelieving
voice, 'You may try your best, my dear, of course.'

Then Flossy looked at Peter, and Peter looked back at her, and they
called Snip-snap and went out of the room.

This was the way in which the baby became the children's special care;
she was immediately thrown upon their tender mercies, they considered
themselves answerable for her good behaviour, and Flossy almost wore
herself out in devising amusements for her. She would toss all her hair
over her face and dance wildly up and down, and contort that same little,
funny, freckled face into all sorts of grimaces; and when the baby
laughed and crowed, and made chirrupy sounds, she was abundantly
satisfied. Peter, too, was most ingenious in keeping off the fatal
sounds of baby's wailing: he would blow into a paper bag, and then when
the baby had screwed up her face, and was preparing to let out a whole
volley of direful notes, he would clap his hands violently on the bag and
cause it to explode, thereby absolutely frightening the poor little
creature into smiles.

Peter would sing all kinds of nursery rhymes for the baby, and walk up
and down with it, and even run with it until his arms ached very badly
indeed. But after all, the one who suffered most in the cause of the
baby was Snip-snap.