son Cornelius to Lawrenceville. Please do everything you can to make him at home and see that he meets the _best_ boys. His mother and sister will go on with him and I want you _particularly_ to be _very_ nice to them. Affectionately, AUNT CARRIE. Skippy having read this twice, looked in the envelope to make sure that a five dollar bill was not enclosed, as all aunts should remember to do, and transferred his gaze to the fidgeting Hippo. "H'm, first time at boarding school?" "Yes, sir." "Governesses before?" Hippo, who had been recovering from his first feeling of awe, roared loudly at this. Skippy looked indignantly at this breach of etiquette and reached thoughtfully for a tennis racket. "Please, sir," said Hippo hastily, "High school." Skippy considered him thoughtfully and something told him that in the right-hand lower vest pocket there was undoubtedly a certain amount of round hard silver bodies and moreover that this condition was not simply episodic but chronic. "That coot may be fresh but he is going to do a lot of heavy spending," he said to himself with conviction. How he knew is immaterial. There is an instinct that guides--some have it, some haven't it. You can't explain it. Doc Macnooder for instance could diagnose a pocket-book as keenly as a surgeon. It's a gift, that's all. Skippy possessed this gift. "Mother just brought you in?" Hippo acknowledged this with a look of the greatest distress. "Sister too?" "Damn it, yes!" Skippy looked at Snorky and shook his head. "Don't you know that profanity is a wicked, wicked habit, Hippo?" Hippo's mouth started to swallow his ears, then returned to rest at signs of a hostile atmosphere. He swung from foot to foot, looked sheepish, looked terrified and finally blurted out: "I beg pardon, sir." "It is a wicked habit, Hippo, but we are here to help you. It is very lucky for you that you have come to the right school, where you will meet boys of fine manly standards. Kneel down, Hippo." "What, sir?" "Go over to the bed and kneel down," said Skippy in a voice of great sadness. "Don't hesitate, Hippo. That's better. Now, Hippo, I want you to reflect upon what a wicked, wicked thing profanity is and I want you to ask God to forgive you and help you. Silently, Hippo." Hippo, who was green and fresh but not at all green and gullible, went through the prescribed program with the utmost gravity. "Do you feel better now, Hippo?" said Snorky solemnly. "Yes, sir, but I'd like a little more time, sir." "Stand up," said Skippy frowning. Hippo, unchastened, bounded to his feet and saluted. "And, Hippo, I'm afraid," said Skippy relentlessly, "that you don't appreciate what a mother's love means. Think how your mother has watched over you all these years, think how she has scrubbed behind your ears, think of the hundreds and hundreds of toothbrushes--"