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Arkwrightisstillabroad，asIpresumeyouknow。
Ihearheisdoinggreatstuntsoverthere，andwillsinginBerlinandParisthiswinter。I’mthinkingofgoingacrossfromPanamalater。IfIdoIshalllookhimup。Mr。andMrs。Cyrilareaswellascouldbeexpectedwhenyourealizethattheyhaven’tyetsettledonapairofnamesforthetwins。’
Iknowit——andthepoorlittlethingsthreemonthsold，too!Ithinkit’sashame。You’veheardthereason，Isuppose。Cyrildeclaresthatnamingbabiesisoneofthemostseriousanddelicateoperationsintheworld，andthat，forhispart，hethinkspeopleoughttoselecttheirownnameswhenthey’vearrivedatyearsofdiscretion。
Hewantstowaittillthetwinsareeighteen，andthenmakeeachofthemabirthdaypresentofthenameoftheirownchoosing。’
Well，ifthatisn’tthelimit!’laughedCalderwell。I’dheardsomesuchthingbefore，butIhadn’tsupposeditwasreallyso。’
Well，itis。Hesaysheknowsmoretomboysandenormousfatwomennamed`Grace’and`Lily，’andsweetlittlemouse-likeladiesstaggeringalongunderasonorous`JerushaTheodosia’
or`ZenobiaJane’；andthatifheshouldnametheboys`Franz’and`Felix’afterSchubertandMendelssohnasMariewantsto，they’daslikelyasnotturnouttobemenwhohatedthesoundofmusicanddotedonstocksanddrygoods。’
Humph!’gruntedCalderwell。IsawCyrillastweek，andhesaidhehadn’tnamedthetwinsyet，buthedidn’ttellmewhy。Iofferedhimtwoperfectlygoodnamesmyself，buthedidn’tseeminterested。’
Whatwerethey？’
EldadandBildad。’
Hugh!’protestedBilly。
Well，whynot？’bridledtheman。I’msurethosearenewandunique，andreallymusical，too——’wayaheadofyourFranzandFelix。’
Butthosearen’treallynames!’
Indeedtheyare。’
Wheredidyougetthem？’
Offourfamilytree，thoughthey’reBiblenames，Bellesays。Perhapsyoudidn’tknow，butSisterBellehasbeenmakingthedirtflyquitelivelyoflatearoundthatfamilytreeofours，andshewrotemesomeofherdiscoveries。Itseemstwooftheroots，orbranches——say，areancestorsroots，orbranches？——werecalledEldadandBildad。NowIthoughtthosenamesweregoodenoughtopassalong，but，asIsaidbefore，Cyrilwasn’tinterested。’
Ishouldsaynot，’laughedBilly。But，honestly，Hugh，it’sreallyserious。Mariewantsthemnamed_something_，butshedoesn’tsaymuchtoCyril。Mariewouldn’treallybreathe，youknow，ifshethoughtCyrildisapprovedofbreathing。
AndinthiscaseCyrildoesnothesitatetodeclarethattheboysshallnamethemselves。’
Whatasituation!’laughedCalderwell。
Isn’tit？But，doyouknow，Icansympathizewithit，inaway，forI’vealwaysmournedsoover_my_name。`Billy’wasalwayssuchatrialtome!PoorUncleWilliamwasn’ttheonlyonethatpreparedgunsandfishingrodstoentertaintheexpectedboy。Idon’tknow，though，I’mafraidifI’dbeenallowedtoselectmynameIshouldhavebeena`HelenClarabella’allmydays，forthatwasthenameIgaveallmydolls，with`first，’`second，’`third，’andsoon，addedtothemfordistinction。EvidentlyIthoughtthat`HelenClarabella’wasthemostfeminineappellationpossible，andthemostforeigntothedespised`Billy。’SoyouseeIcansympathizewithCyriltoacertainextent。’
Buttheymustcallthelittlechaps_something_，now，’arguedHugh。
Billygaveasuddenmerrylaugh。
Theydo，’shegurgled，andthat’sthefunniestpartofit。Oh，Cyrildoesn’t。Healwayscallsthemimpersonally`they’or`it。’Hedoesn’tseemuchofthemanyway，now，Iunderstand。
Mariewashorrifiedwhensherealizedhowthenurseshadbeenusinghisdenasanurseryannexandshechangedallthatinstanter，whenshetookchargeofthingsagain。Thetwinsstayinthenurserynow，I’mtold。Butaboutthenames——
thenurses，itseems，havegotintothewayofcallingthem`Dot’and`Dimple。’Onehasadimpleinhischeek，andtheotherisalittlesmallerofthetwo。Marieisnoenddistressed，par
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