"You are fond of the pets, if I am not
mistaken ?" remarked my fair fellow-
traveller, archly.

I bowed assent. "Pet" is a general term,
and I have no aversion to a good bull-
terrier.

"And I am sure," she added, more
sweetly still, " they like you."

My heart stood still. A dew rose on my
forehead. What if I were expected to
caress the little abomination?

"How he fixes his pretty eyes upon you!
It is quite curious, how quickly they recognise
their friends!"

If an intense desire to fling its object out
of the window be indicative of friendship,
I gave this infant credit for its penetration.
Snatching the opportunity, when mamma's
eyes were for a moment averted, I
returned the child's stare with a look that
might have cowed a rhinoceros. But the
result disappointed my expectations. The
terrified howl I had elicited was interpreted
as a desire to go to the kind gentleman
who was smiling so amiably from the
opposite seat. This, however, the infant,
for its own private reasons, at once
declined, thereby enabling me to display,
with safety, an amount of disappointment
that completely won the confidence of both
mamma and nurse.

Upon the whole, this was a fortunate
meeting. Here, I thought, was a splendid
opportunity of learning a little baby talk
and general management which would
prove invaluable in defence against my
godson. Not to be tedious—before our
little party separated, I had, by unwearied
observation and a little judicious questioning,
acquired all the needful rudiments of
babiology. Although not qualified to maintain
a fluent conversation, I felt that I could
make myself generally understood. If
incompetent to deal with unforeseen and
critical incidents, I could answer for a
certain self-possession in the presence of
most. In cases demanding prompt action,
I felt sure that my course, if somewhat
rough, would be effectual. I knew which
end of a baby commonly went first, and
which had been agreed upon, by nursery
sages, as more desirable to keep uppermost.
I was aroused to the fact that
"wagh!" (which I had hitherto imagined
to be a phrase of the Sioux Indians) was
babine for hungry: and " owgh!" implied
a slight discomfort in the stomach: these
being the only two incidents recognised
in earlier baby life, as of any real
consequence. The art of saying, "clk!"
"chirrup!" and "boh!" at the aptest
moment, was one that could not be imparted,
but which tact, experience, and observation
would soon supply. Finally, the rules that
govern dandling and dancing are of so
subtle a nature, that the inspiration of the
moment is, upon the whole, the safest
guide.

Armed with these timely hints, I lost all
uneasiness, and by the time I reached my
journey's end, was really almost as anxious
to meet my godson, as his doting mother
could have desired.

"Now, uncle," said Mattie, composing
herself, after the effusions of welcome, "how
would you like to see him, first? Think,
dear, and then say frankly. He does look
so pretty, asleep! But, then, his little
ways —"

"My dear," I said, hurriedly, "if there
be one condition in which a child affects
me more pleasingly than another, it is in
that sweet repose which must be so
unspeakably grateful both to the innocent
little being itself, and — and—to all that
stand around."

"Come, then, dear. Hush-sh. Tiptoe,
please! . . . . There!"

Mattie was right. He was not a common
child. I never saw so "made" a countenance
in so very small a human being.
Asleep in his cot, his face alone visible, he
looked like a medallion of some ancient
senator of Rome. His nose, commenced
on the principle so much in vogue with
that distinguished people, had been finished
as a snub. There were purpose and determination
in the close-shut lips, and a slight
corrugation of the little brows, as if, even
in dreams, the atom's thoughts were busy
with schemes for the life that was scarcely
begun.

"Calculating little beggar!" I thought,
smiling, however, with all the sweetness I
could command.

"He doesn't take to strangers at all,"
whispered Mattie.

"Thank — no, really?" said I, much
relieved.

"But don't be uneasy, dear. He will to
you," said Mattie, consolingly. "I do
believe he's dreaming of you at this very
moment!"

"Come, come, my dear!"

"Just hark." She put down her ear.

"Don't you see his little lips moving?
'Uncle.'"

"'Bunkum,' I fancied!"

"Nonsense— only hark. 'Unky tum !'"

"Tum!"