“Robe.”

“Robe, with bands of lace all down it, as long as that; and a white christening cloak sewn with white roses. Won’t he look sweet?”

“Very sweet.”

“He shall have lots of hair. I shan’t love him if he hasn’t.”

“Oh, yes, you will.”

“No. He must have thick, flossy hair like Mimi, so that I can stroke him. Which would you rather have, a little girl or a little boy?”

“Well—what do you think——?”

“I think—perhaps I’d rather have a little girl.”

She would be like Mamma, and her little girl would be like herself. She couldn’t think of it any other way.

The school-treat was held in Mr. Hancock’s field. All afternoon she had been with the children, playing Oranges and lemons, A ring, a ring of roses, and Here we come gathering nuts in May, nuts in May, nuts in May: over and over again. And she had helped her mother to hand cake and buns at the infants’ table.