d."

Then Kit got some water and a spoon and gave the Twins a drink, but
they did not like the drink either.

"Now we must put them to sleep," said Kat. They rocked the ducks in
their arms, but the ducks squawked dreadfully.

"What bad children to cry so!" said Kit. "You can have both the Twins";
and he gave his duck to Kat.

"You fix a bed for them," said Kat. So Kit turned up the box they had
been sitting on, and put some hay in it; and they put the ducks in on
the hay.

Pretty soon the ducks went to sleep. Kit and Kat ran away to play out
of doors and forgot all about them.

They didn't think about them again until Father Vedder came home at
night with Mevrouw Holstein. When he put the cow into the stall, he
stumbled over the box. It was rather dark in the stable.

"Quack, quack!" said the ducks.

Kit and Kat were helping Father put the cow into the stall and get some
hay for her. When the ducks quacked, Father Vedder said,

"What in the world is this?"

"Oh, our Twins! our Twins!" cried Kit and Kat. "Don't let Mevrouw
Holstein step on the Twins!"

Father Vedder pulled out the box. Kit and Kat each took a duck and
carried it out to the poultry house.

"Twins are a great care," said Kit and Kat.

"Now is the time to ask," whispered Kat to Kit, that night, when Father
Vedder had finished his supper and was lighting his pipe. "You must ask
very politely, just the very politest way you can."

They went and stood before their father. They put their feet together.
Kit made a bow, and Kat bobbed a curtsy.

"Dear parent," said Kit.

"That's a good start," whispered Kat. "Go on."

"Well, well, what now?" said Father Vedder.

"Dear parent, Kat and I are quite big now. I think we must be nearly
four feet and a half high. Don't you think we are big enough to have
skates this winter?"

"So that's it!" said Father Vedder. Then he smoked his pipe again.

"There was ice on the canal this morning," said Kat.

"So you think you are big enough to skate, do you?" said Father Vedder,
at last. Mother Vedder was clearing away the supper. "What do you think
about it, Mother?" said Father Vedder.

"They have been very good children," said the Vrouw. "There are the
skates you and I had when we were children. We might try them on and
see if they are big enough to wear them. They are in the bag hanging
back of the press."

Kit and Kat almost screamed with joy.

"Our feet are quite large. I'm sure we can wear them