wagging his stump of a tail
slightly and showing two formidable rows of teeth while he "laughed" at
her perturbation.

"Oh, don't be afraid of Sammy's dog," advised Dot. "He won't bite you."

"He won't bite?" demanded the woman, who was evidently of a nervous
disposition. "What's he got all those teeth for? He doesn't bite?"

"Oh--oh, no, ma'am. He only nibbles."

Then she called the dog and the woman went on, relieved. But when her
fright was past she probably confessed to herself that the smallest
Corner House girl certainly had originality of ideas.

Dot would not let the bulldog into the yard, for he would have at once
sought out Billy Bumps, the goat, to tease him. He and Billy were sworn
and deadly enemies.

Sammy and Tess had disappeared. So, still feeling the necessity for
discussing the airship matter with somebody, Dot went upstairs to Aunt
Sarah's room.

Aunt Sarah Maltby was forever engaged in sewing or in fancy work; and,
to tell the truth, Dot was not much interested in needlework. She was
often seized upon by Aunt Sarah, however, and made to sit down to sew
patchwork.

"Every little girl, when I was a little girl, had to learn to use her
needle," declared the spinster. "When I was your age, Dorothy Kenway, I
had pieced half a block bedquilt and was learning to do
feather-stitching."

"Yes ma'am," said Dot, politely. "It must have been very int'resting."
But she did not care for such amusement herself. On this occasion,
before she could even broach the airship matter, Aunt Sarah seized upon
a fault that Dot had not even noticed before.

"Look here!" exclaimed Aunt Sarah. "What have you done to your
stocking?"

"I--I--I'm wearing it," confessed Dot, startled, but looking down at her
neat little shins in their white hose.

"Wearing them! You're wearing them _out_!" ejaculated Aunt Sarah,
pointing to a hole that Dot could not possibly see, for it was behind
her. "And those stockings were put on fresh this afternoon."

"Yes, ma'am," admitted Dot, for it was of no use to argue with Aunt
Sarah.

"When I was your age," (a favorite expression of Aunt Sarah's) "I darned
my own stockings. And you don't even know what needles are for!"

"Oh, yes I do, please, Auntie. They're to make the talking machine
play!" declared Dot, frightened by Aunt Sarah's manner into most unusual
perversity. She was usually a gentle, obedient child.

Aunt Sarah was in no mood to listen to anything about airships after