so that the
water ran out in a little stream. Soon the drip-pan was full and then
the water began trickling over the floor. No one noticed it until it had
made a little puddle under the table, just at the point where Mrs.
Martin's feet were.

"Oh, Trouble! what will you do next?" sighed the little fellow's mother.

"No harm done at all! None whatever!" said the waiter, coming up to the
table smiling. "That little water on the floor I will wipe up so quick
you will never see it."

"No, it won't hurt the floor much," Mr. Martin said. "And I suppose your
shoes will dry out," he told his wife. "But, all the same, William should
not have done it."

"I won't do it any more," said the little fellow. "I be good now! I
sorry!"

He generally was when he had done something like that. However, as the
waiter had said, little real harm was done, and Mrs. Martin's shoes
would dry, for it was a hot, summer day.

The meal was finished and they all took their places in the automobile
again to finish the ride to Uncle Toby's place, about twenty miles
farther on.

Once again Trouble, Ted and Janet sat in the rear seat, while their
father and mother rode in front. And this time Trouble had no red
balloon which he could blow up, making it burst with a noise like a
punctured tire. The children talked among themselves, wondering over and
over again what it could be that Uncle Toby wanted their father to come
and take charge of.

"Maybe he's got a little boy or a girl from an orphan asylum, and he
wants us to take it to live with us," suggested Janet.

"A boy would be all right," decided Ted, as he thought of this. "I could
have fun with another fellow."

"And I'd like a girl," said Janet. "I always wished I had a sister."

"Maybe they're twins--a boy and a girl," Ted went on. "That would be
fun!"

"What would be fun?" asked his mother from the front seat, where she had
heard the talk of the children. She often asked a question like this, as
it sometimes stopped a bit of mischief that, otherwise, might happen.
"What fun are you talking about?" asked Mrs. Martin.

"Uncle Toby," answered Janet. "I thought maybe what he wanted daddy to
take charge of was a little orphan girl."

"And I thought maybe it was a boy," added Ted.

"And then we both thought maybe it was twins--a boy and a girl, and we'd
each have someone to play with," went on Janet.

"My! I don't believe Uncle Toby has adopted any orphan children that he
wants us