"Yes," said Bob Tucker, who had dropped in to deliver the basket of apples that Mrs. Crane had sent to her former neighbors, "you ought to advertise for the kind of mother that feeds her babies to crocodiles. Perhaps some of them have emigrated to this country and sort of miss the Ganges River." "You might try the orphan asylum," offered Jean, as balm for this wound. "It's only four blocks from here." "I have," returned Mabel, dejectedly. "I went there early this morning." "What happened?" demanded Bettie, who had just arrived with a little Tucker under each arm. "They said they'd let them go 'permanently to responsible parties.' I didn't know just exactly what that meant, so I said: 'Does that mean that you'll lend me a few for two hours?'" "And would they?" "Well, they didn't. They said I'd better borrow a Teddy bear." "How mean," said sympathetic Bettie. "Nevermind, I'll lend you Peter, this time." "Say," queried Mabel, after she had accepted Bettie's proffered brother, "what does 'permanently' mean?" "For keeps," explained Jean. "What are 'responsible parties'?" "Jean and Bettie and I," twinkled Marjory, "but not you." "That's good," laughed Bob, who, like Marjory, loved to tease. "But never mind, Mabel. After you've practised a year or two on Peter, who's a nuisance if there ever was one, you'll find yourself growing respons---- Whoop! What was that?" "That" was a sudden crash that resounded through the house. Everybody rushed to the kitchen. The big dish-pan that Mabel had left on the edge of the kitchen table was upside down on the floor. At least half of little Peter Tucker was under it. But the half that remained outside was so unmistakably alive that nobody felt very seriously alarmed--except Peter. "Thank goodness!" said Mabel, removing the pan, "this is just a little Tucker and not any Percival Mercer! Cheer up, Peter. You're not as wet as you think you are. There wasn't more than a quart of water in that pan and it was almost perfectly clean." And Peter, soothed by Mabel's reassuring tone, immediately cheered up. CHAPTER II Rosa Marie NOT long after Mabel's ineffectual attempt to borrow an orphan Mrs. Bennett dispatched her small daughter to Lake Street to find out, if possible, why Mrs. Malony, the poultry woman, had failed to send the week's supply of fresh eggs.