"I love you, Ralph!" she said quickly, hugging him and then turning to run.

"Here, here!" cried Daddy Morrison in surprise. "Thought you were in bed long ago. Don't I get any kissing?"

"Mother is waiting to bathe me," explained Sister hurriedly, "and d.i.c.k wants his collar b.u.t.tons, so I have to go, Daddy."

Her father caught her as she rushed past him and gave her a quick kiss.

"Sister!" called Mother Morrison. "Sister, are you coming?"

Sister, the box of b.u.t.tons clutched tightly in her hand, ran upstairs.

d.i.c.k, glowering, met her at the top.

"For goodness' sake!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "I'd about given up hope--and if you ever touch one of my things again--"

"I won't!" promised Sister hastily. "Honest Injun, I won't. You aren't mad, are you, d.i.c.k?"

d.i.c.k was wrestling with a stiff collar before the gla.s.s in the hall.

"No, I'm not mad, but I shall be in a minute," he announced grimly.

"Don't stand there and watch me, please; you make me nervous."

"Come and take your bath, dear," called Mother Morrison.

"Don't you hear Mother? What are you waiting for?" demanded d.i.c.k.

"Waiting for you to kiss me good-night," answered Sister composedly.

d.i.c.k stared at her. Then he laughed.

"There!" he said, picking Sister up and kissing her soundly. "Now will you leave me in peace, you monkey?"

Sister was satisfied and hurried off to her bathing. When she came out of the bathroom, she found Brother sleepily waiting for her, sitting up, in his bed.

"If you hear Ralph in the morning," he told her earnestly, "you call me, 'cause I want to see my own birthday present before you do."

"Can't I look at it if you're not awake?" asked Sister hopefully.

"No, you mustn't," said Brother firmly. "It's my birthday present, and I want to see it first. Now you remember!"

Mother Morrison kissed them both, put a screen in another window, for the night was warm, and snapped off the light. It was time for Brother and Sister to be asleep.

"Roddy!" whispered Sister softly.

"Uh-huh?" came sleepily from Brother.

"Suppose I can't help looking when Ralph opens the door?"

Brother roused himself.

"You mustn't," he repeated. "It's my birthday. I wouldn't look first if it was your birthday present. You can shut your eyes, can't you?"

Sister sighed, and a big yawn came and surprised the sigh.

"Maybe he'll have it tied in a paper," she murmured hopefully. "Then I can't see it."

CHAPTER VI

RALPH'S PRESENT

The sun rose bright and early on Brother's birthday morning. Not any earlier than usual, perhaps, but it certainly woke Brother a whole half-hour earlier than he usually opened his eyes.

Almost at the same moment that his brown eyes opened wide, and he sat up in bed, Sister's dark eyes also opened wide and she sat up in her little white bed.

"Oh!" she said, blinking. "OH, it's your birthday, Roddy! Many happy returns of the day--and I have a present for you!"

She slipped out of bed and ran over to the chest of white drawers that held her own possessions.

"You can play with them a little while and then you can eat 'em," she explained, returning with a flat, white box which she put on Brother's lap.

The present proved to be a pound of animal crackers, of which Brother was very fond, and Sister was telling him how she had carefully picked out as many horses and elephants as she could--for indulgent Grandma Hastings had bought several pounds of the crackers, and allowed Sister to select the two kinds of animals that were Brother's favorites--when they heard Ralph's quick step in the hall.

"Here comes Ralph! Don't look!" commanded Brother hastily.

Sister promptly dived under the bedclothes, and when Ralph softly opened the door--lest the children were still asleep--he saw Brother staring eagerly toward him and a little lump in the middle of Sister's bed.

"Well, young man, how does it feel to be six years old?" Ralph asked merrily, putting down the basket he carried on the floor, and coming over to Brother, who stood up to hug him.

"Just as nice," gurgled Brother, standing still to receive the six "spanks" without which no birthday could be properly celebrated.

"Can I look yet?" asked a m.u.f.fled voice meekly.

"Why, sweetheart, what have they done to you?" demanded Ralph in amazement, uncovering a very warm and flushed little girl. "I thought you were asleep, honey. Don't you feel well?"

"Oh, I feel all right," Sister a.s.sured him cheerfully. "Only I promised Brother I wouldn't look at the present before he did."

"That's so, I did bring a present, didn't I?" said Ralph, pretending to have forgotten. "Well, Brother, stand up while I measure you once more; I must be sure that you are tall enough and that means that you drank your milk every time without grumbling."

"Couldn't he grumble?" asked Sister, watching while Ralph stood brother against the wall and made a tiny mark with a pencil. "You never said he couldn't grumble, Ralph."

"Didn't I?" Ralph said. "Well, then, I should, because that is very important. You will grow, you know, if you drink your milk and grumble about it, but not half as fast as you will grow if you drink the milk and make no fuss. That's true, Sister--I'm not joking."

"I didn't grumble much, did I, Sister?" interposed Brother. "Haven't I grown, Ralph?"

"Yes, I think you have--enough to have what I have brought you,"

returned Ralph cheerfully. "Here, now, tell me what you think of this."