ildren, don't contradict each other. It's not nice," said auntie.

"Him didn't begin," said Baby, "t'were Denny beginned."

"I didn't. I only said _once_ that Baby wasn't born hundreds of years
ago," said Denny, "and then he----"

"Onst is as wurst as twicet," said Baby.

Mother turned round at this. There was a funny look on her face, but
still she spoke rather gravely.

"Baby, I don't know what's coming over you," she said. "It isn't like
you to speak like that."

Baby's face grew red, and he turned his head away.

"Him didn't mean _zeally_ that ganfather were lazy," he said, in a low
voice.

"It wasn't _that_ I was vexed with you for," said mother. "I know you
were joking when you said that. I meant what you said to Denny."

"Him's werry sorry," said Baby, on the point of tears.

"Never mind. Don't cry about it," said mother, who really wanted the
children to be very good and happy this first day. And she was a little
afraid of Baby's beginning to cry, for, _sometimes_, once he had begun,
it was not very easy to stop him.

"You don't understand about grandfather and his breakfast," said auntie.
"Here nobody has big breakfast when they first get up except you
children, who have the same that you have at home."

"No we don't," said Denny. "At home we have bread and milk every day
except Sunday--on Sunday we have bacon or heggs, because that's the
nothing-for-breakfast day."

Auntie stared at Denny.

"Really, Denny," she said, "it is sometimes a little difficult to be
sure that you have got all your senses. How can you have 'nothing for
breakfast' when you have bacon, and--who in the world ever taught you to
say 'heggs'?"

"I meant to say 'neggs,'" said Denny very humbly. "Grandfather laughed
at me because I didn't say 'hippotamus' right--I called it a
'nippotamus,' and he made me say 'hi-hi-hip,' and that's got me into the
way of saying it to everything, like calling a negg, a hegg."

"A _negg_," repeated auntie slowly. "Can't you hear any difference
between 'a negg,' and 'an egg'? Spell, a-n an, e-g-g egg."

Denny repeated it.

"What dedful jography Denny's having," observed Baby; "I can say _a
negg, quite_ right."

"And so you too call 'a negg' nothing for breakfast?" said auntie.

"Neggs and bacon is nothing for breakfast," answered Baby.

"Auntie," said Fritz, "you don't understand. We call it nothing for
breakfast when there's not bread-and-milk, you know, for on
bread-and-milk days we h