f giving
them goats?"

"That's right, my boy," said Captain Featherstone, looking with open
admiration at Bee's motherly attitude, on her knees beside her boy and
his arms around her neck, "always be grateful. It's a rare virtue
these days."

Jimmie, however, who always spoils things, winked at Aubrey. But
Billy's next remark threw us all into fits of laughter.

"Oh, Uncle Aubrey, can't we have a ceremony of launching the goats, and
mayn't I break a bottle of champagne over their horns?"

Jimmie fairly yelled. Billy looked distressed.

"Their horns are very strong!" he urged. "I don't believe it would
hurt them one bit. And you might give me one of those little bottles I
saw Mr. Jimmie open--you remember the little one you had after the two
big ones, don't you, Mr. Jimmie?"

"Oh, yes, Billy," I said. "Mr. Jimmie remembers. (You'd be ashamed
not to, wouldn't you, Jimmie?)"

"You think you're funny," growled Jimmie, witheringly, as Sir Wemyss
and Captain Featherstone broke out afresh, and even Artie Beg left off
looking at Cary long enough to smile at Jimmie's scarlet face and Mrs.
Jimmie's anxious one. She moved quietly over to where Jimmie was
standing with his hands in his pockets, and slipped her arm through
his. She did not know quite what it was all about, but she felt that
they were laughing at her Jimmie, and, as usual, she looked
reproachfully at me.

Billy's plaintive voice recalled us.

"Yes, dearie," I hastened to say. "You may have a small bottle of
champagne--or perhaps Apollinaris water would be better, it sparkles
just the same, and if it flew in the goats' eyes it wouldn't make them
smart, and the champagne would."

Billy beamingly acquiesced.

"Now I must just think up some good names for them," he said, with an
air of importance, "and perhaps I'll have to ask Uncle Aubrey and Mr.
Jimmie to help me. It's awful hard to think up suitable names for
goats."

"All right, old man," said Aubrey. "Come along. We'll think 'em up
now, and have the launching this afternoon, and invite some people to
the ceremony."

So he and Billy and Jimmie took leave of us, and strolled away
together, Billy with his hands in his trousers' pockets and striving to
take just as long steps as they did. He would have given his kingdom
for a pipe!

We got up quite a little party, and worked very hard over it. Bee and
Captain Featherstone delivered the invitations, and people thought it
was a most del