y as he reached the close of
this neat and reverential speech, so that his wife scrutinized his face
closely to see if there might not be a laugh somewhere about it. A
friendly coating of lather protected one cheek, however, and the
troublesome tooth had distorted the shape of the other, so Mrs. Burton
was compelled to accept the mingled ascription of praise and
responsibility, which she did with a sinking heart.

"I'll take care of them while you're at church, my dear," said Mr.
Burton; "they're always saintly with sick people."

Mrs. Burton breathed a sigh of relief. She determined that she would
extemporize a special "Children's service" immediately after breakfast,
and impress her nephews as fully as possible with the spirit of the day;
then if her husband would but continue the good work thus begun, it
would be impossible for the boys to fall from grace in the few hours
which remained between dinner-time and darkness. Full of her project,
and forgetting that she had allowed her chambermaid to go to early Mass
and promised herself to see that the children were dressed for
breakfast, Mrs. Burton, at the breakfast-table, noticed that her nephews
did not respond with their usual alacrity to the call of the bell.
Recalling her forgotten duty, she hurried to the boys' chamber, and
found them already enjoying a repast which was remarkable at least for
variety. On a small table, drawn to the side of the bed, was a pie, a
bowl of pickles, a dish of honey in the comb, and a small paper package
of cinnamon bark, and, with spoons, knives and forks and fingers, the
boys were helping themselves alternately to these delicacies. Seeing his
aunt, Toddie looked rather guilty, but Budge displayed the smile of the
fully justified, and remarked:

"Now, you know what kind of meals little boys like, Aunt Alice. I hope
you won't forget it while we're here."

"What do you mean!" exclaimed Mrs. Burton, sternly, "by bringing such
things up-stairs?"

"Why," said Budge, "you told us to get what we wanted, an' we supposed
you told the troof."

"An' I ain't azh hungry azh I wazh," remarked Toddie, "but my tummuk
feels as if it growed big and got little again, every minute or two, an'
it hurts. I wishes we could put tummuks away when we get done usin' 'em,
like we do hats an' overshoes."

To sweep the remains of the unique morning lunch into a heap and away
from her nephews, was a work which occupied but a second or two of Mrs.
Burton's