You know I'm all out of practice." "But why _don't_ you practice ?" "Why, Bertram, I can't.

In the first place I don't seem to have any time except when Baby's asleep; and I can't play then-I'd wake him up." Bertram sighed irritably, rose to his feet, and began to walk up and down the room.

He came to a pause at last, his eyes bent a trifle disapprovingly on his wife.
"Billy, dear, _don't_ you wear anything but those wrapper things nowadays ?" he asked plaintively.
Again Billy laughed.

But this time a troubled frown followed the laugh.
"I know, Bertram, I suppose they do look dowdy, sometimes," she confessed; "but, you see, I hate to wear a really good dress--Baby rumples them up so; and I'm usually in a hurry to get to him mornings, and these are so easy to slip into, and so much more comfortable for me to handle him in!" "Yes, of course, of course; I see," mumbled Bertram, listlessly taking up his walk again.
Billy, after a moment's silence, began to talk animatedly.

Baby had done a wonderfully cunning thing that morning, and Billy had not had a chance yet to tell Bertram.