Sister promptly dived under the bedclothes, and when Ralph softly
opened the door--lest the children were still asleep--he saw Brother
staring eagerly toward him and a little lump in the middle of Sister's
bed.

"Well, young man, how does it feel to be six years old?" Ralph asked
merrily, putting down the basket he carried on the floor, and coming
over to Brother, who stood up to hug him.

"Just as nice," gurgled Brother, standing still to receive the six
"spanks" without which no birthday could be properly celebrated.

"Can I look yet?" asked a muffled voice meekly.

"Why, sweetheart, what have they done to you?" demanded Ralph in
amazement, uncovering a very warm and flushed little girl. "I thought
you were asleep, honey. Don't you feel well?"

"Oh, I feel all right," Sister assured him cheerfully. "Only I promised
Brother I wouldn't look at the present before he did."

"That's so, I did bring a present, didn't I?" said Ralph, pretending to
have forgotten. "Well, Brother, stand up while I measure you once more;
I must be sure that you are tall enough and that means that you drank
your milk every time without grumbling."

"Couldn't he grumble?" asked Sister, watching while Ralph stood brother
against the wall and made a tiny mark with a pencil. "You never said he
couldn't grumble, Ralph."

"Didn't I?" Ralph said. "Well, then, I should, because that is very
important. You will grow, you know, if you drink your milk and grumble
about it, but not half as fast as you will grow if you drink the milk
and make no fuss. That's true, Sister--I'm not joking."

"I didn't grumble much, did I, Sister?" interposed Brother. "Haven't I
grown, Ralph?"

"Yes, I think you have--enough to have what I have brought you,"
returned Ralph cheerfully. "Here, now, tell me what you think of this."

He stooped down and lifted the lid of the basket. Then he tipped it
over on one side and out rolled the fattest brown and white collie
puppy dog you ever saw!

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" shrieked Brother and Sister together. "What a perfectly
dear little puppy!"

"He's yours, Brother," said Ralph, smiling like the dear big brother he
was. "Yours to take care of and love, and to name."

"Hasn't he any name?" asked Brother, hugging the fat puppy, who seemed
to like it and tried to say so with his little red tongue. "I don't
know what to name a puppy dog."

"Call him 'Brownie,'" suggested Sister, down on her knees on the floor,
watching the dog wit