a lot. She said so,
once. Mr. Gilpin didn't have a single nut in his pockets. He said so.
And he talked awful funny! Not as if to me at all, so must ha' been to
the 'reptile' in his 'buzzum.' Do 'reptiles' buzz, Dolly, same as
sting-bees do? And wouldn't you rather carry nuts in your pockets for
such nice little girls as me, than crawly things inside your smock to
bite you? I think a smock's the funniest kind of clothes, and Mr.
Gilpin's the funniest kind of man inside 'em. Don't you?"

"If either one can match you for funniness, you midget, I'll lose my
guess. Seems if this had been the 'funniest' kind of day ever was. But
I'll give you up till you get ready to explain your 'reptile' talk.
Changing the subject, did you get a slide to-day?"

"Yes, lots of them. What do think? I didn't have anybody give me a
nice new toboggan with my name on it, like you had; so the Bishop he
told Auntie Prin that he'd look out for me this year same's he did
last year. I hadn't grown so much bigger, he thought. Course he's
terrible big and I'm terrible little, so all he does is tuck me inside
his great toboggan coat. Buttons it right around me--this way--so I
never could slip out, could I? And I don't have to hold on at all he
holds on for me and Auntie's not afraid, that way. Don't you think it
was terrible nice for Gwendolyn to give you your things?"

"What things, dear? Gwen has given me nothing that I know of. Is this
another mystery of yours?"

"It isn't not no mystery, I don't know what them are, except when
girls like you get lost right in their own houses and don't get found
again right soon. But I know 'secrets.' Secrets are what the one you
have 'em about don't get told. That was a secret about your things,
Gwen said. You didn't get told, did you?"

"I have a suspicion that I'm being told now," answered Dorothy,
soberly. "Suppose you finish the telling, dear, while we are airing
the subject. What are the things you're talking about?"

"Why, aren't you stupid, Dolly? About the be-a-u-tiful blankets were
made into your suit. Auntie said they were the handsomest ever was.
Lady Jane had bought 'em to have new things made for Gwen, 'cause Lady
Jane's going far away across the ocean and she wanted to provide every
single thing Gwen might want. In case anything happened to Gwen's old
one.

"So Gwen said, no, she didn't need 'em and you did. She guessed your
folks hadn't much money, she'd overheard the Bishop say so. That's the