Thank you, dear Vrouw Van der Kloot."

So they ate up the one more then and there, beginning with the feet.
Kit bit one off, and Kat bit the other; and they took turns until the
St. Nicholas doll was all gone.

Then they took the four others, said good-bye to the good Vrouw, and
went back to Father's stall. They found that Father had sold all his
things and was ready to go home.

They carried their empty baskets back to the boat, and soon were on
their way home. The Twins sat on one seat, holding tight to their
dolls, which were growing rather sticky.

The boat was so light that they went home from market much more quickly
than they had come, and it did not seem long before they saw their own
house. There it was, with its mossy roof half hidden among the trees,
and Vrouw Vedder waiting for them at the gate.

Dinner was all ready, and the Twins set the four St. Nicholas dolls in
a row, in the middle of the table.

"There's one for Father, and one for Mother, and one for Kat, and one
for me," said Kit.

"O Mother," said Kat, "Kit can think! He thought just how many dolls he
could buy when they were one for one cent! Isn't it fine that he can do
that?"

"You've learned a great deal at the market," said Vrouw Vedder. But Kit
didn't say a word. He just looked proud and pleased and put his hands
in his pockets.

"By and by, when you are four and a half feet high and are called
Christopher, you can go with Father every time," said Vrouw Vedder.

"I can think a little bit, too," said Kat. "Can't I go?"

"No," said Vrouw Vedder. "Girls shouldn't think much. It isn't good for
them. Leave thinking to the men. You can stay at home and help me."

III

MOTHER'S DAY

"Yesterday was a very long day," said Vrouw Vedder on the morning after
Market Day. "You were gone such a long time."

Kat gave her mother a great hug.

"We'll stay with you all day to-day, Mother," she said. "Won't we, Kit?"

"Yes," said Kit; and he hugged her too.

"And we'll help you just as much as we helped Father yesterday. Won't
we, Kit?"

"More," said Kit.

"I shouldn't wonder!" said Father.

"I shall be glad of help," said Vrouw Vedder, "because Grandma is
coming, and I want everything to be very clean and tidy when she comes.
I'm going first to the pasture to milk the cow. You can go with me and
keep the flies away. That will be a great help."

Vrouw Vedder put a yoke across her shoulders, with hooks hanging from
each end o