Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/94

 can't keep his head still. He keeps waggling it."

Not wishing to scold her favorite, Mrs. Eaton suggested that the children go outside and play.

James jumped to his feet and crossed the room to where Edward and Alice were sitting.

"Hello, Alice," said he. "We haven't shaken hands yet . . . Come along out . . . I'll show you some baby rabbits . . ."

Then James, always sophisticated and at his ease, pulled Alice's hand through his arm and, followed by Edward and Sarah, marched gaily from the room.

During the next half-hour Edward experienced his first symptoms of jealousy. James, perhaps because he wished to tease Edward, perhaps because he had been suddenly attracted by the child's prettiness, took entire charge of Alice and proceeded to ingratiate himself with her. He treated her as if she had been grown up. He said he liked the way she did her hair and said that he couldn't make out if her eyes were blue-black or purple. Anyway, she could go around telling herself that nobody else had a pair like them. Did she really want to see the baby rabbits? Well, they lived in a hole back of the big oak tree. They were wild rabbits, only they weren't wild.

James dipped his hand into the hole and pulled out the three baby rabbits by their ears. Alice