that I can't
remember how such sums are done."

"Well, I can work any sort o' example that I have use for in my
business," Henley defended himself as well as he could, "but the Lord
knows I never had any use for a--a thing as silly as that is on the very
face of it. Huh, I say--'Sixty is two-thirds of what number?' Why, the
fool don't even give the number he asks you to divide. How can you
divide a thing that hain't been seen, measured, or weighed? It is as
silly as asking how many inches long is two-thirds of a piece of string,
or how many bushels of wheat in two-thirds of a barn that's twice as big
as four-fifths of one that never was built."

Dixie laughed heartily. "It does seem that way, don't it? But, after
all, you do know that sixty must be two-thirds of _some_ number, for
every number is two-thirds of something, ain't it?"

"By gum, yes!" he exclaimed, with a start. "You are sure right. Ah, I
see now. By gosh, I've got it! No, it's gone already." He had reached
for her pencil and paper, but his hand fell idly on his knee. "Good
gracious! Some'n is dead wrong with me."

"I think it can be done," Dixie declared, her brow furrowed. "You see,
since sixty must be two-thirds of some number, I'm picking different
numbers and dividing by three and multiplying by two. The last trial I
made was one hundred, and I got sixty-six and two-thirds for the answer.
You see, that ain't so powerful far off."

"I see, I see," Henley cried, eagerly. "Now, what you want to do is to
keep getting lower and lower till you hit the nail on the head. I reckon
it's one o' them sums just got up to make the sprouting intellect hop
and skip about for practice. Suppose you try ninety-nine next? It's
better to go slow, and be sure, than to have to go back. Le'me see:
three into nine, three times and nothing to carry; three into nine
again--there, you've got thirty-three, and twice thirty-three are
sixty-six. See, we are still closer to the mark, for we have already
wiped off the two-thirds."

"We are warm!" Dixie cried, with the laugh of a child playing a game.
"Now let's try ninety-six."

Henley made a rapid calculation. "Sixty-four!" he cried out, gleefully.
"We are closer. Now let's take a stab at ninety-three." And he began to
figure, but she stopped him.

"My judgment is ninety," she said. "One-third of ninety is thirty and
twice thirty is--glory, Alfred, we've nailed it! We've got it--we've got
it! And we thought it couldn't poss