cause you to be worse. Now, which is it to be?"

Bert saw it clearly now.

"Why, father," he cried, his face beaming with gladness at this new turn
to the situation, "I'll do my best to be a good boy, and I know Shorty
will, too, for he always likes to do what I do."

"Very well then, Bert," said Mr. Lloyd, "that's a bargain. And now,
suppose you invite Frank, or 'Shorty,' as you call him, to spend next
Saturday afternoon with you, and take tea with us."

"Oh, father, that will be splendid," cried Bert, delightedly. "We can
coast in the fort all the afternoon and have fun in the evening. I'm
sure Shorty will be so glad to come."

The question thus satisfactorily settled, Bert took his breakfast, and
went off to school in high glee and great impatience to see Frank, for
the invitation he bore for him fairly burned in his mouth, so to speak.

As he expected, Frank needed no pressing to accept it. He did not get
many invitations, poor chap! and the prospect of an afternoon at Bert's
home seemed very attractive to him. He did enjoy himself thoroughly,
too, even if he was so shy and awkward that Mrs. Lloyd and Mary were
afraid to say very much to him; he seemed to find it so hard to answer
them.

But Mr. Lloyd got on much better with him. Although his boyhood was a
good way in the past, he kept its memories fresh, and could enter
heartily into the discussion of any of the sports the younger generation
delighted in. He knew all the phrases peculiar to baseball, cricket,
marbles, and so forth, and fairly astonished Frank by his intimate
knowledge of those amusements, so that ere long Frank, without knowing
just how it happened, was chatting away as freely as though he were out
on the Garrison playground instead of being in Mr. Lloyd's parlour.

Having once got him well started, Mr. Lloyd led him on to talk about
himself and his home, and his way of spending his time, and thus learned
a great deal more about him than he had yet known. One fact that he
learned pointed out a way in which Bert's influence could be exerted for
good at once. Frank attended no Sunday school. He went to church
sometimes, but not very often, as his father took little interest in
church-going, but he never went to Sunday school; in fact, he had not
been there for years. Mr. Lloyd said nothing himself on the subject to
Frank. He thought it better to leave it all to Bert.

After Frank had gone, leaving behind him a very good impression upon the