“I can untie knots,” he said defiantly, “or I could chew the rope in two.”
“Don’t be saucy,” his mother said, sponging the thin grimy toes. “Run along, Mame, Colonel Roosevelt is coming up to read to them.”
“It’ll be battles or Injun fighting and get them all stirred up and excited,” grumbled Mame as she went out.
Alice followed her father into the nursery. “I’m surely glad I have my own room,” she said. “There’s just no peace or privacy in this nursery any more.”
“It’s time you were in bed too, Alice,” said her stepmother. “You were up before dawn this morning.”
“I want to hear the story,” Alice was plaintive. “I promise to go to bed right after. After all I won’t be with Father very much longer.”
“Let her stay, I’ll hustle her to bed right after,” said Roosevelt.
Ted sat up, regarded the book his father was opening. “I vote for Sir Lancelot,” he announced firmly.
“I vote for dragons,” said Kermit. “I like stories with dragons with fire coming out their noses.”
“Are there any dragons in Dakota, Father?” Ethel wanted to know. “Where you shot all the animals? Those up on the wall?”