CHAPTER VIII 



" My dog he had his master's nose, 



To smell a knave through silken hose; 

 If friends or honest men go by, 

 Welcome, quoth my dog and I!" 



From, Old Wessex Song. ANON. 



SKIPPUM, my first little chum, and I 

 knew an awful secret once. It began 

 in the pretty white cottage where he 

 lived and ended over in my house. We 

 tried to tell our mammas about it, but we 

 couldn't make them understand, for they 

 never dreamed of such a secret. 



Skippum's mamma had such "a treasure 

 of a maid," as she called her, who was so 

 pretty and kind to the little babies, and who 

 always met her mistress with a refreshing 

 drink of ice-cold lemonade, or something 

 equally nice, when she came home from 

 riding or shopping, and brushed out her 

 long yellow tresses, and helped her dress so 

 patiently, and who loved to help adorn her 

 with all her prettiest jewels and make her 

 look so girlish and beautiful, that of course 

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