No wonder Five Oaks awoke to a new existence! The wide-spreading lawns knew now what it was to be pressed by a dozen little scampering feet at once: and the great stone lions knew what it was to have two yelling boys mount their carven backs, and try to dig sharp little heels into their stone sides. Within the house, the attic, sacred for years to cobwebs and musty memories, knew what it was to yield its treasured bonnets, shawls, and quilted skirts to a swarm of noisy children who demanded them for charades. Tom, Peter, Mary, Patty, Arabella, and Clarabella had been at Five Oaks two weeks when one day Bobby McGinnis found Margaret crying all alone in the old summerhouse down in the garden. "Gorry, what's up?" he questioned; adding cheerily: "'Soldiers' daughters don't cry'!"--it was a quotation from Margaret's own childhood's creed, and one which in the old days seldom failed to dry her tears. Even now it was not without its effect, for her head came up with a jerk. "I--I know it," she sobbed; "and I ain't--I mean, I _are_ not going to. There, you see," she broke off miserably, falling back into her old despondent attitude. "'Ain't' should be 'are not' always, and I never can remember." "Pooh! Is that all?" laughed Bobby. "'Twould take more'n a 'are not' ter make me cry." "But that ain't all," wailed Margaret, and she did not notice that at one of her words Bobby chuckled and parted his lips only to close them again with a snap. "There's heaps more of 'em; 'bully' and 'bang-up' and 'gee' and 'drownded' and 'g' on the ends of things, and--well, almost everything I say, seems so." "Well, what of it? You'll get over it. You're a-learnin' all the time; ain't ye?" "'Are not you,' Bobby," sighed Margaret. "Well, 'are not you,' then," snapped Bobby. Margaret shook her head. A look that was almost terror came to her eyes. She leaned forward and clutched the boy's arm. "Bobby, that's just it," she whispered, looking fearfully over her shoulder to make sure that no one heard. "That's just it--I'm not a-learnin'!" "Why not?" "Because of them--Tom, and Patty, and the rest" Bobby looked dazed, and Margaret plunged headlong into her explanation. "It's them. They do 'em--all of 'em. Don't you see? They say 'ain't' and 'gee' and 'bully' all the time, and I see now how bad 'tis, and I want to stop. But I can't stop, Bobby. I just can't. I try to, but it just comes before I know it. I tried to stop them sayin' 'em, first," went on Margaret, feverishly, "just as I tried to make 'em act ladylike with their feet and their knives and forks; but it didn't do a mite o' good. First they laughed at me, then they got mad. You know how 'twas, Bobby. You saw 'em." Bobby whistled. "Yes, I know," he said soberly. "But when they go away----"