She might be Queen Victory's daughter by the airs she puts on; I'd like
to keep her myself if she was a little older, and I wasn't goin' away
from here."

"I s'pose they'll make an awful row at being separated, won't they?"
asked the younger woman.

"Oh, like as not; but they'll have to have their row and get over it,"
said Mrs. Simmons easily. "You can take Timothy to the Orphan Asylum
first, and then come back, and I'll carry the baby to the Home of the
Ladies' Relief and Protection Society; and if they yell they can yell,
and take it out in yellin'; they won't get the best of Nancy Simmons."

"Don't talk so loud, Nancy, for mercy's sake. If the boy hears you,
he'll begin to take on, and we sha'n't get a wink of sleep. Don't let
'em know what you're goin' to do with 'em till the last minute, or
you'll have trouble as sure as we sit here."

"Oh, they are sound asleep," responded Mrs. Simmons, with an uneasy look
at the half-open door. "I went in and dragged a pillow out from under
Timothy's head, and he never budged. He was sleepin' like a log, and so
was Gay. Now, shut up, Et, and let me get three winks myself. You take
the lounge, and I'll stretch out in two chairs. Wake me up at eight
o'clock, if I don't wake myself; for I'm clean tired out with all this
fussin' and plannin', and I feel stupid enough to sleep till kingdom
come."