nning out on the wet grass in thin shoes.

"But I couldn't expect it to be wet in the summer," replied Madge, who
would seldom admit that she was in the wrong without an argument.

"Don't talk nonsense!" said Captain West severely. He would play with
the children all day, and readily forgive them any damage they did
through carelessness, but he never could stand their trying to argue
that wrong was right. "You know as much about dew as I do," he
continued; "and I have put on thick boots while you have been running
about for an hour in dripping wet shoes."

It was quite impossible to deny this, for Madge's feet presented a most
miserable appearance. She had been running through the shrubberies,
where the long wet grass reached up to her knees, and her kid shoes
were also scratched and muddy.

"If I go in and put on thick boots may I come out again and help you to
drive the goats?" inquired Madge anxiously.

Seeing how very wet she was, Captain West did not dare grant this
request, but ordered her straight back to bed. With many a grumble
Madge returned to her room and threw all her clothes in a heap on the
floor. Then she slowly climbed into bed, protesting to herself that
she should be sure to lie awake until it was time to get up, in spite
of which resolve she fell asleep in about two minutes.

Whether Jack and Jill thought that Captain West did not look like a
person to be trifled with, or whether they were really getting a little
tired of their prolonged frolic, it is impossible to say. At all
events, soon after he appeared they allowed themselves to be quietly
driven to the end of the garden and out through the door into the
farmyard, where they remained until Barton came to milk the cows in the
morning.

CHAPTER IX.

AN ALARMING JUMP.

"I'll tell you what it is, children," said Captain West briskly as he
entered the dining-room rather late for breakfast, "if these pets of
yours are going to keep me trotting about the garden at night I shall
lose my excellent character for punctuality in the morning. Why, here
is Madge coming down late too, and looking very displeased with the
world. I don't know if Jack and Jill are responsible for her frowns as
well as my lateness; if so, they have a good deal upon their
consciences!"

The fact of the matter was, that poor Madge was labouring under a
grievance. In the morning she and Betty usually tried who should get
down earliest to breakfast, and to-