e the good of all the time.
What do you say, Marjorie?"

"Miss Lou said he used to sing a good deal," observed Marjorie, her
virtue coming to the surface once more. "Why wouldn't it be nice to get
him one of the new hymnals; a great big one, with all the tunes in it? I
think he'd find it very comforting."

A pause followed her words; then the boys burst into a shout of
laughter. Marjorie looked a little aggrieved.

"I don't see what you're laughing at," she said, with a suspicion of a
pout. "Hymns are a great deal better for such people than your crazy old
books and tool-chests."

"Don't be a jay, Marjorie," said Ned bluntly. "He isn't any more _such
people_ than we are; and because a fellow is down on his luck he doesn't
want everybody shying coffins at him. But here comes Grant; let's see
what he says. Then we can save up for a month, and see how much we get;
after that, we can tell better what to do with it."

For the next four weeks a spirit of miserliness seemed to have broken
out among the young people, who scrimped and saved and denied themselves
for days, only to succumb to the temptations of "just one little bit of
a treat," which swept away most of their savings again, and left them no
better off than before. The day after they had taken their great
resolution, they went down town in a body, and invested most of the
funds at the disposal of the syndicate in an elaborate toy bank, in the
form of a dog who stolidly swallowed their stray bits of silver and
nickel into an iron strong-box below, which nothing but a powerful
hammer could ever succeed in opening. As soon as this purchase was made,
and a nest-egg solemnly deposited in its miniature vault, their zeal
cooled, and the dog was left in Allie's keeping for a week of slow
starvation. It is true that Charlie often begged to be allowed to
contribute from his own more abundant resources; but it had been agreed
that he could only add one fifth to the combined offerings of the
others; so, though the end of the month was fast approaching, the bank
was still nearly as light as when it came from the store, and only
responded with a faint rattle to Allie's frequent shakings.

Matters were in this condition, one day, when Grant dropped in for one
of his frequent short calls on Marjorie.

"Mustn't stay," he answered briefly; "I'm on my way down to get my hair
cut. I'm going to try Charlie Mac's barber; he gets a better shape on
your hair, somehow."

"Extravag