rt--and if
I think to say it the last thing before I go to sleep he says I'll get
so's _nothing_ can scare me."

"Recite it for Mr. Debrett," urged Mrs. Hawtry. And Cecelia Anne
obediently began, with a jerk of a curtsey and a shake of her delicate
embroideries and blue sash.

"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Mr. Debrett's astonishment at this lullaby held him silent for some
seconds.

"You see, sir," Cecelia Anne explained, "if you _can_ go to sleep
thinking about that it shows your nerve. I can't. Not yet. But it never
makes me cry any more and Jimmie says that's something."

"I should say it was!" he congratulated her. "It's wonderful. And now in
the matter of dolls," he went on referring to the list, "no rag babies,
eh?"

"Oh, but she has beautiful dolls, Mr. Debrett," interposed her mother.
"She'll show them to you to-morrow morning, won't you honey-child? But
she did not buy them. They were given to her at Christmas and other
times. But really, since we came out here for the summer they've been
rather neglected. Their mother has been so busy."

"And Jimmie made me a house for them!" Cecelia Anne broke in. "And
furniture! And a front yard stuck right on to the piazza! But I don't
know, mother, whether I'd have time to show them to Mr. Debrett in the
morning. I'm pretty busy now. It's getting so near the race. And I pace
Jimmie _every_ morning."

"Ah! that reminds me," said her father, "Jimmie told me to send you to
bed at eight o'clock--one of the rules of 'training', you know--so say
good night to us all and put your little book back in the drawer.
You've kept it very nicely. I am sure Mr. Debrett agrees with me."

When the elders were alone, Mrs. Hawtry crossed over into the light and
addressed her guest.

"I can't have you thinking badly of Jimmie," she began, "or of us, for
allowing him to practically spend the baby's income. Every one of the
things on that list mark a stage in Cecelia Anne's progress away from
priggishness and toward health. I don't know just how much she realizes
her own power of veto in these purchases but I am sure she would never
exercise it against Jimmie. She's absolutely wrapped up in him and he's
wonderfully good and patient with her. Of course, you know, they're
twins although no one ever guesses it. They've shared everything from
the very first.