lee_?" said Henry.

"Why, Rollo bailed you his fish," said Mary. "Rollo was bailor, and you
bailee."

"No," said Henry, "he only gave me back my dipper, and the fish was in
it."

Mary asked for an explanation of this, and the boys related all the
circumstances. Mary said it was an intricate case.

"I don't understand it exactly," said Mary. "You returned him his
property which you had borrowed, and at the same time put into his hands
some property of your own. I don't know whether it ought to be
considered as only giving him back his dipper, or bailing him the fish."

"I did not want the _fish_," said Henry.

"No," said Mary. "It is a knotty case. Let us go and ask father about
it."

"O, _I_ don't want to go," said Henry.

"Yes, I would," said Mary. "I'll be your lawyer, and manage your side of
the question for you; and we will get a regular decision."

"Well," said Henry, reluctantly. And all the children followed Mary and
Lucy towards the house.

They found Rollo's father in his room, examining some maps and plans
which were spread out upon the table before him. When he saw the
children coming in, he asked Mary, who was foremost, what they wanted.
She said they had a law question, which they wanted him to decide.

"A law question?" said he.

"Yes," she replied; "a case of bailment."

"O, very well; walk in," said he.

There was a sofa at one side of the room, and he seated the children all
there, while he drew up his arm-chair directly before them. He then told
them to proceed. Rollo first told the whole story, closing his statement
by saying,

"And so I let him have my fish; and that was a bailment, and it was not
for my benefit, but his, and so he ought to have taken very especial
care of it. But he did not, and lost it, and so he ought to pay."

"But we maintain," said Mary, "that the _fish_ was not bailed to Henry
at all. Rollo only gave him back the dipper, and, though the fish was in
it, still the fish did not do Henry any good, and so it was not for his
benefit."

"It seems to be rather an intricate case," said her father, smiling.

Henry looked rather sober and anxious. The proceedings seemed to him to
be a very serious business.

However, Rollo's father spoke to him in a very kind and good-humored
tone, so that, before long, he began to feel at his ease. After hearing
a full statement of the case, and all the arguments which the children
had to offer on one side or the other, Rollo's