o be touchingly faithful to my duty, kind and
considerate to the public. In time the world will hear of me and I shall
be honored and revered."

"Which you never would be at home," put in David sarcastically.

"What great man is ever appreciated in his own country?" questioned
Hippy gently.

Even Reddy was obliged to smile at this retort.

"Let the future take care of itself," said Tom Gray lazily. "The night
is yet young. Let us do stunts. Grace and Miriam must do their Spanish
dance for us. Then it will be Nora's and Jessica's turn. Hippy can sing,
nothing sentimental, though. David, Reddy, Hippy and I will then enact
for you a stirring drama of metropolitan life entitled 'Oakdale's Great
Mystery,' with the eminent actor, Theophilus Hippopotamus Wingate as the
'Mystery.' Let the show begin. We will have the Spanish dance first."

"Come on, Miriam," laughed Grace. "We had better be obliging. Then we
shall be admitted to the rest of the performance."

The impromptu "show" that followed was a repetition of the "stunts" for
which the various members of the little circle were famous and which
were always performed for Mrs. Gray's pleasure. "Oakdale's Great
Mystery," of which Hippy calmly admitted the authorship, proved to be a
ridiculous travesty on a melodrama which the boys had seen the previous
winter. Hippy as the much-vaunted Mystery, with a handkerchief mask, a
sweeping red portiere cloak, and an ultra-mysterious shuffle was
received with shrieks of laughter by the audience. The dramatic manner
in which, after a series of humorous complications, the Mystery was run
to earth and unmasked by "Deadlock Jones, the King of Detectives," was
portrayed by David with "startling realism" and elicited loud applause.

"That is the funniest farce you boys have ever given," laughed Mrs.
Gray, as Hippy removed his mask with a loud sigh of relief and wiped his
perspiring forehead with it. "You will be a playwright some day, Hippy."

"I'd rather be a brakeman," persisted Hippy with his Cheshire cat grin.

It was half-past ten o'clock when the last good night had been said and
the young people were on their way home. As the Nesbit residence was so
near Mrs. Gray's home, Miriam was escorted to her door by a merry body
guard. At Putnam Square the little company halted for a moment before
separating, Nora, Jessica, Hippy and Reddy going in one direction,
Grace, Anne, Tom and David in the other.

"Are you coming down to the trai