plained that she furnished the paint and George did
the work. He had swung oblong clothes baskets from the ceiling of a
big, cheery, old-fashioned bedroom for a cradle for each baby, and
established himself in a small back room adjoining the kitchen. Kate
said nothing about the arrangement, because she supposed it had been
made to give her more room, and that George might sleep in peace, while
she wrestled with two tiny babies.

There was no doubt about the wrestling. The babies seemed of nervous
temperament, sleeping in short naps and lightly. Kate was on her feet
from the time she reached her new home, working when she should not
have worked; so that the result developed cross babies, each attacked
with the colic, which raged every night from six o'clock until twelve
and after, both frequently shrieking at the same time. George did his
share by going to town for a bottle of soothing syrup, which Kate
promptly threw in the creek. Once he took Adam and began walking the
floor with him, extending his activities as far as the kitchen. In a
few minutes he had the little fellow sound asleep and he did not waken
until morning; then he seemed to droop and feel listless. When he took
the baby the second time and made the same trip to the kitchen, Kate
laid Polly on her bed and silently followed. She saw George lay the
baby on the table, draw a flask from his pocket, pour a spoon partly
full, filling it the remainder of the way from the teakettle. As he
was putting the spoon to the baby's lips, Kate stepped beside him and
taking it, she tasted the contents. Then she threw the spoon into the
dishpan standing near and picked up the baby.

"I knew it!" she said. "Only I didn't know what. He acted like a
drugged baby all last night and to-day. Since when did you begin
carrying that stuff around with you, and feeding it to tiny babies?"

"It's a good thing. Dr. James recommended it. He said it was harmful
to let them strain themselves crying, and very hard on you. You could
save yourself a lot," he urged.

"I need saving all right," said Kate, "but I haven't a picture of
myself saving myself by drugging a pair of tiny babies."

He slipped the bottle back in his pocket. Kate stood looking at him so
long and so intently, he flushed and set the flask on a shelf in the
pantry. "It may come in handy some day when some of us have a cold,"
he said.

Kate did her best, but she was so weakened by nursing both of the