"We've got a lovely little pond for him, Freddie," said Dorothy.
"There is a real little lake out near my donkey barn, and your duck
will have a lovely time there."

"But he has to swim in the ocean," insisted Freddie, "'cause we're
going to train him to be a circus duck."

"You will have to put him in a bag and tie a rope to him then," Uncle
William teased, "because that's the only way a duck can swim in the
ocean."

"But you don't know about Downy," argued Freddie. "He's wonderful!
He even tried to swim without any water, on the train."

"Through the looking glass!" said Bert, laughing.

"And through the air," added Nan.

"I tell you, Freddie," said Uncle William, quite seriously: "we could
get an airship for him maybe; then he could really swim without
water."

But Freddie took no notice of the way they tried to make fun of his
duck, for he felt Downy was really wonderful, as he said, and would do
some wonderful things as soon as it got a chance.

When dinner was over, Dorothy took Nan up to her room. On the
dresser, in a cut-glass bowl, were little Nettie Prentice's lilies
that Nan had carried all the way from Meadow Brook, and they were