h to come. This was where she was apt to sit
in the morning, with her work or a book.

Bob lay on the grass near, panting with the heat. He had just had an
exciting chase after a bird that would perch occasionally on a low bush,
then flap its wings triumphantly, and fly away just as naughty Bob drew
near. He thought it a most mistaken arrangement of affairs that birds
were able to fly. Now, disgusted, he had apparently given up the game,
but lay with one eye open, awaiting further developments. Presently
Edith came out, followed by the children with their toys. She had her
work-basket, for she continued to take care of their clothes,
notwithstanding Mrs. Franklin's remonstrances.

She was not particularly pleased to see Neal in her favorite corner. She
said to herself that she would like to have one day at least free from
the Gordons. Edith felt cross with herself and every one else this
morning.

Neal rolled out of the hammock when he saw her, and sprang to draw up
her chair with extreme politeness and courtesy.

"And you would like this little table for your basket, wouldn't you?" he
said, lifting it across the porch.

"Thank you," said Edith, mollified in spite of herself. Then she
stiffened again.

"Where are Ben and Chester?" she asked, with a severe glance at Bob.

"I saw them around at the side door."

"It does seem a shame that they should be banished from the front of the
house. For years they have had the use of this piazza; and now, just
because Bob chooses to monopolize the place, they feel that they must
go."

"Very foolish feelings," said Neal, who had returned to his hammock. "If
they only had a little spirit they would soon show Bob his proper place.
Why don't they give him a good shaking when he nips their legs?"

"Because they are larger than he, and because they are too polite to do
it in their own home."

Neal laughed. He had a hearty, contagious laugh, and Edith could not
refrain from joining in it.

"They set you a very good example," he said. "Come, Edith, confess that
you hate the Gordons, from Bob up."

Edith colored. "How silly you are!" she said, with supreme dignity. "Why
should I trouble myself to dislike you?"

"Why, indeed? There's no accounting for tastes. Then, 'love me, love my
dog.' But I say, Edith, it rather pays to make you mad. You grow two
inches visibly, while I shrink in proportion. It is just as if you had
some of that cake in your pocket, that Alice came acro