“I don’t know.  Oh, tell me, Rosie!”

“Guess,” Rosie insisted, her eyes dancing.

“Rosie, if you don’t tell me this minute, I’ll pinch you.”

“It was a baby—­a little baby brother.”

“A baby!  Oh, Rosie!”

The two little girls hopped about the room in another mad dance.

“Maida, he’s the darlingest baby that ever was in the whole wide world!  His name is Edward.  He’s only six weeks old and he can smile.”

“Smile, Rosie?”

“He can—­I saw him—­and sneeze!”

“Sneeze, Rosie?”

“That’s not all,” said Rosie proudly.  “He can wink his eyes and double up his fists—­and—­and—­and a whole lot of things.  There’s no doubt that he’s a remarkable baby.  My mother says so.  And pretty as—­oh, he’s prettier than any puppy I ever saw.  He’s a little too pink in the face and he hasn’t much hair yet—­there’s a funny spot in the top of his head that goes up and down all the time that you have to be dreadfully careful about.  But he certainly is the loveliest baby I ever saw.  What do you think my mother let me do?”

“Oh, what?”

“She let me rock him for a moment.  And I asked her if you could rock him some day and she said you could.”

“Oh! oh!”

“And what else do you think she’s going to let me do?”

“I can’t guess.  Oh, tell me quick, Rosie.”

“She says she’s going to let me give him his bath Saturdays and Sundays and wheel him out every day in his carriage.”

“Rosie,” Maida said impressively, “you ought to be the happiest little girl in the world.  Think of having a baby brother for a Christmas present.  You will let me wheel him sometimes, won’t you?”

“Of course I will.  I shall divide him exactly in half with you.”

“Where has your mother been all this time?” Maida asked.

“Oh, she’s been dreadfully sick in a hospital.  She was sick after the baby came to her—­so sick that she couldn’t even take care of him.  She said they were afraid she was going to die.  But she’s all right now.  Father bought her for Christmas a beautiful, long, red-silk dress that’s just to lie down in.  She looks like a queen in it, and yet she looks like a little girl, too, for her hair is done in two braids.  Her hair comes way down below her waist like your mother’s hair.  And when I gave her the little silver heart, she was so pleased with it.  She put it right on and it looked sweet.  She said she would much rather wear it on a black velvet ribbon than on a silver chain.”

“Everything’s come out all right, hasn’t it?” Maida said with ecstasy.

“I guess it has.  Now I must go.  I want to be sure to be there when the baby wakes up.  I asked my mother when you could see the baby, Maida, and she said to-morrow.  I can’t wait to show you its feet—­you never did see such little toes in your life.”

Exciting as this event was, it was as nothing to what followed.