onsidered the discussion at an end.

CHAPTER III

It was on an afternoon late in January that the flag was finally
presented to the school. It was a day marked with fierce winds and
flurries of snow, like a day in March.

But the inclement weather did not prevent people from coming to the
presentation exercises. The school room was full; even the aisles were
filled, and more than one late-comer was turned away because there was
no more room.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Riverbeds were to have the lion's
share of the honors of the occasion, and the further fact that
resentment in the ranks of the Hilltops ran strong and deep, and
doubly so since the outwitting of their leader, no attempt was made to
block the program, or to interfere, in any way, with the success of
the occasion.

There were, indeed, some secret whisperings in a little group of which
Elmer Cuddeback was the center; but, if any mischief was brewing, Pen
did not know of it.

Moreover, was it not Pen's grandfather who had given the flag, and who
was to be the chief guest of the school, and was it not up to the
Hilltops to see that he was treated with becoming courtesy? At any
rate that was the "consensus of opinion" among them. Colonel Butler
had prepared his presentation speech with great care. Twice he had
read it aloud in his library to his grandson and to his daughter
Millicent.

His grandson had only favorable comment to make, but his daughter
Millicent criticised it sharply. She said that it was twice too long,
that it had too much "spread eagle" in it, and that it would be away
over the heads of his audience anyway. So the colonel modified it
somewhat; but, unfortunately, he neither made it simpler nor
appreciably shorter.

Aleck, too, under the supervision of his teacher, had prepared a
fitting and patriotic response which he had committed to memory and
had rehearsed many times. Pupils taking part in the rest of the
program had been carefully and patiently drilled, and every one
looked forward to an occasion which would be marked as a red-letter
day in the history of the Chestnut Hill school.

The exercises opened with the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner,"
by the school. There was a brief prayer by the pastor of one of the
village churches. Next came a recitation, "Barbara Frietchie," by a
small girl. Then another girl read a brief history of the American
flag. She was followed by James Garfield Morrissey, the crack