"My sister is sick," he explained, "and she's getting no better."

"Why don't you tell mother?" asked Ethelwyn.

"O it's everything your mother's done for us this summer, without
bothering her more," he said. "I'm going to try to get my sister up in
the country, but--I can't yet awhile."

"Will it cost very much, Joe?"

"No, not much, but there's so many of us to feed and clothe that we
never have any money left for anything else."

"Mother will help, I know," said Ethelwyn, and they went up to the
house, pondering deeply.

"Those horrid puppies! I wish we'd never heard of them," said Ethelwyn.
"Then we could give Dick the money. What did you think about them for?"

"You did yourself."

"No, I didn't. Anyway, let's watch for Mr. Smithers at the back garden
gate, and tell him not to bring them."

So they went down through the garden, and, looking over the gate, they
saw a very sulky little colored girl carrying a long limp bundle of
yellow calico, with a round woolly head protruding at the top.

"O that cunning baby I Where'd you get him?" they cried both at once,