"Whose are they, Father?"
"Why, ours, pet,—our very own—your little twin sisters."
"My—little—twin—sisters! Both of them mine! Oh, isn't God good! I have been asking Him for a little sister ever since He sent Rosemary one; but I never dreamed that He would give me two—never! Isn't He good!" and Mary lightly kissed the lips, cheeks, forehead, eyes, and even the nose of the mite she hugged. "Please take this one, Aunt Mandy, and let me love that one a few minutes."
"You will find this little lady somewhat heavier," warned her father. "Better let me help you hold her."
"There!" said Mary with a happy sigh, "I gave her just as many as this one," holding up her arms for the baby which Aunt Mandy held; "for, of course, I love them both exactly the same. And, Aunt Mandy, you must not bother about me any more. You won't have time, you know. I can dress my own self, all except the buttons 'way up between my shoulders; and I can wash my neck and ears clean, too."
"Bress yo' li'l heart, honey! Does yo' think fo' one instinct dat yo' ole mammy is gwine to let yo' git yo' curls all wet, an' kotch yo' def ob cold dat-a-way? An' who's gwine to bresh de tangles out'n dem curls, I lak to know?"
"But I can wear my rubber cap when I am washing my neck and ears, just as I did when I went in bathing at the seashore. I suppose, though, that someone will have to help me with my hair. Oh, I know just the thing! I can have it cut off, and then I can fix it my own self."
"What's dat! what's dat yo's sayin', Miss May-ree! Cut off dem curls? No, sah! Dey ain't gwine to be no hair-cuttin' round heah! Aunt Mandy's gwine to tek de bes' ob care ob all her li'l bressed lambs; she sho' am!"
"Well, well! what does big sister think about all this?" whispered Doctor Carlton, Mrs. Selwyn's brother, coming into the room as Aunt Mandy left it. "Is her nose out of joint, Rob?"
"My nose, Uncle Frank?" echoed Mary, lifting a happy little face for his good-morning kiss. "It doesn't pain at all, so I'm sure it can't be out of joint. When I put my thumb out of joint, it pained dreadfully until you fixed it for me."