se and shook himself; then, with the apron still hanging about
his neck, he marched to the nearest mirror and gazed at the reflection
of his shorn head. It was a strange picture that met his eyes. His head
was encircled with narrow furrows, where the scissors had done their
work so well that not a spear of hair rose above the bare skin. These
ridges were intermingled with patches of stubble of varying length;
while, here and there, a long lock had escaped entirely, and, in the
lack of its former support, now stood out from his scalp at an
aggressive angle, like the fur on the back of an angry cat. The whole
effect resembled nothing so much as a piece of half-cleared woodland,
where the workman's axe had here levelled everything to the ground, here
left a clump or two of bushes, and here spared an occasional giant tree
which towered far above its fallen comrades, in the conscious pride of
its unimpaired strength.

The result was novel; but Grant appeared to fail to appreciate it, for
when he turned back to face Marjorie again his brown eyes were blazing,
and he was well-nigh speechless with indignation.

"You beastly fraud!" he shouted, while he rubbed his hand over his
denuded pate, with a tenderly caressing motion, as if to console it for
its appearance.

"What's the matter?" asked Marjorie faintly.

"Matter!" stormed Grant. "Look at my head and see for yourself. You said
you could cut my hair all right, and you've just spoiled it all. I won't
pay you one cent. It'll take weeks and weeks for it to get back again."

"It looks all right," said Marjorie stubbornly; "and you've got to pay
me. You said you would, and you never lie. The time I spent on it is
worth more than ten cents, anyway."

"I sha'n't pay you," retorted Grant doggedly.

"You shall!"

"I won't!"

"Then I'll tell Allie and Charlie, and all the rest, that you're stingy
and a great big cheat."

"Tell away if you're mean enough."

"And I'll tell Mrs. Pennypoker; and she'll send you to bed without your
supper, for stealing her money."

"Didn't steal it!"

"Yes, you did, too! She gave it to you for something, and you were going
to spend part of it for soda; that's stealing."

"'T isn't, either!"

"'T is, too, and you know it! And if you aren't ashamed of it why don't
you want me to tell her?"

Grant saw that his enemy had outflanked him, and that his only possible
course was to make the best terms he could.

"Now, see here," he said more