away. They were in a serried mass on two sides of the room,
meeting near the centre, with the underground passage, through which Ben
had worked his way to Carrie's dress. Mrs. Fraser had organized a band
to fill pasteboard boxes, which she had obtained from the village, and
she and her friends were filling them, to send away to be sold, as all
the inhabitants of the town were now glutted with chocolate creams.

At this moment Carrie heard a click in the clock. She looked at her
mother, and as the clock struck she said steadily, "I wish that Ben's
neck was all right again."

Nobody heard her, for at that moment Ben Sykes started up, saying: "I'm
all right, and I have had enough. Come along home!" And he dragged his
family away with him.

Carrie fell into her mother's arms. "I'll never say 'chock full' again!"
she cried; "and I'll always be satisfied with what I have got, for I can
never forget what I suffered in seeing Ben's long neck!"

XII.

"WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"

This was the cry in the Wilson family as they sat down to dinner.

"It is odd," said Aunt Harriet. "I have noticed they are usually ready
for their dinner. They may be out of the way at other times, but they
always turn up at their meals."

"They were here at breakfast," said Jane, the eldest daughter.

"I helped Jack about his Latin before he went to school," said the
mother of the family.

"They are probably at the Pentzes'," said Gertrude. "If our boys are not
there, the Pentzes are here; and as long as the Pentzes are not here, I
suppose our boys are there."

"I should say they were not likely to get so good a dinner at the
Pentzes' as we have here," said Aunt Harriet, as a plate was set before
her containing her special choice of rare-done beef, mashed potato,
stewed celery, and apple-sauce.

"Who are the Pentzes?" said Mr. Wilson, looking round the table to see
if everybody was helped.

"He is a painter and glazier," said Aunt Harriet, "and the mother takes
in washing."

"They are good boys," said Mrs. Wilson. "Jonas Pentz stands high in his
class, and is a great help to our Sam. Don't you remember him? He is the
boy that came and spent a night with Sam a week ago. They have their
first lesson in 'Caesar' this afternoon; perhaps they are studying up."

"Jack always has to go where Sam does," said Gertrude.

This was the talk at the Wilsons' table. The subject was much the same
at the Pentzes'. There was a large family a