Now '' -- Peter dropped his voice -- `` what is bothering me is this -- would it be proper to tell a dream like that before the girls ? '' I was of the opinion that it would be rather questionable ; but Dan vowed he did n't see why . HE 'D tell it quick as any other dream . There was nothing bad in it . `` But they 're your own relations , '' said Peter . `` They 're no relation to me , and that makes a difference . Besides , they 're all such ladylike girls . I guess I 'd better not risk it . I 'm pretty sure Aunt Jane would n't think it was proper to tell such a dream . And I do n't want to offend Fel -- any of them . '' So Peter never told that dream , nor did he write it down . Instead , I remember seeing in his dream book , under the date of September fifteenth , an entry to this effect : -- `` Last nite i dremed a drem . it wasent a polit drem so i wo n't rite it down . '' The girls saw this entry but , to their credit be it told , they never tried to find out what the `` drem '' was . As Peter said , they were `` ladies '' in the best and truest sense of that much abused appellation . Full of fun and frolic and mischief they were , with all the defects of their qualities and all the wayward faults of youth . But no indelicate thought or vulgar word could have been shaped or uttered in their presence . Had any of us boys ever been guilty of such , Cecily 's pale face would have coloured with the blush of outraged purity , Felicity 's golden head would have lifted itself in the haughty indignation of insulted womanhood , and the Story Girl 's splendid eyes would have flashed with such anger and scorn as would have shrivelled the very soul of the wretched culprit . Dan was once guilty of swearing . Uncle Alec whipped him for it -- the only time he ever so punished any of his children .
But it was because Cecily cried all night that Dan was filled XXXXX saving remorse and repentance .
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