"Come, Jack, they shan't make fun of our baby," said sister Mary, as she took it into the other room. "It's a good deal prettier than you were!"
Belle and Nannie both laughed, in which Jack joined, not at all offended.
"What are they going to call it?" said Jack, after a pause.
"Nellie, sister Mary said," Belle answered; "after a little sister of mother's that died."
"How old was mother's sister when she died?" Jack asked.
"Just four years old. I heard mother tell all about her. She was so pretty, with long brown curls and brown eyes; and mother said she was always happy, and when anybody seemed sad, she would put her little hands in theirs, and say, 'What make you feel sorry? I love you.' One day she came in, and climbed up into mother's lap—her mother's, you know, grandmother's—and laid her head down, and said, 'I'm so tired,' and went to sleep. She slept on and on, until grandmother got frightened, and sent for the doctor. When he came, he said she was going to die. She was sick for about a day, and didn't know anything. The next afternoon, while grandmother was holding her in her lap, she opened her eyes, and seeing the tears in grandmother's eyes, she said, 'What make you feel sorry? I love you!' and that was the last thing she said."
"Did she die, then?" said Nannie.
"Yes; mother said she only breathed a few minutes after it. I saw the grave when I was at grandmother's. There's a little stone, and her name written on it. 'Nellie Bliss, aged four years.'"
"Just as old as Charlie," said Nannie. "How old would she be now?"
"Almost as old as mother," said Belle.