"Now we must put them to sleep," said Kat. They rocked the ducks
in their arms, but the ducks squawked dreadfully.
"What bad children to cry so!" said Kit. "You can have both the
Twins"; and he gave his duck to Kat.
"You fix a bed for them," said Kat. So Kit turned up the box they
had been sitting on, and put some hay in it; and they put the
ducks in on the hay.
Pretty soon the ducks went to sleep. Kit and Kat ran away to play
out of doors and forgot all about them.
They didn't think about them again until Father Vedder came home
at night with Mevrouw Holstein. When he put the cow into the
stall, he stumbled over the box. It was rather dark in the
stable.
"Quack, quack!" said the ducks.
Kit and Kat were helping Father put the cow into the stall and
get some hay for her. When the ducks quacked, Father Vedder said,
"What in the world is this?"
"Oh, our Twins! our Twins!" cried Kit and Kat. "Don't let Mevrouw
Holstein step on the Twins!"
Father Vedder pulled out the box. Kit and Kat each took a duck
and carried it out to the poultry house.
"Twins are a great care," said Kit and Kat.
"Now is the time to ask," whispered Kat to Kit, that night, when
Father Vedder had finished his supper and was lighting his pipe.
"You must ask very politely, just the very politest way you
can."
They went and stood before their father. They put their feet
together. Kit made a bow, and Kat bobbed a curtsy.
"Dear parent," said Kit.
"That's a good start," whispered Kat.
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