er little niece to take Hero for a morning call on
Winifred; and it was not yet nine o'clock when Ruth pushed open the gate
that led from the alley into the Merrill's' garden.

The stable stood beside this gate, and was some distance from the house.
Fluff, the pony, had a fine box stall with a window looking into the
garden. Fluff belonged to Gilbert; but Gilbert had grown so tall that he
thought the pony too small for his use, and on Winifred's last birthday
had given her all right and title to the little gray pony, whose thick
mane and plume-like tail had made the name "Fluff" most appropriate.

The stable was nearly hidden from the house by shrubs and trees, and
Gilbert and Winifred found it a fine play-house. Ruth often wished that
there was a stable in her father's garden, and that she had a pony
exactly like Fluff.

At the sound of Hero's bark Winifred and Gilbert both appeared in the
doorway of the stable, and close behind them stood Betty Hastings. Ruth
stood still with a questioning look at Winifred. She was sure that
Gilbert had asked Betty to take the part of Lafayette, and for a moment
she was tempted to turn away without a word. But before she could act on
this impulse there was a chorus of welcoming greetings for her and for
Hero, and Winifred came running to meet her.

"Betty is going to take the part of Lord Cornwallis!" Winifred
exclaimed, as she put her arm about Ruth and led her to the stable.
"Gilbert thinks you were splendid to go straight to General Howe and ask
for Hero," she added, "and Betty wants to hear just what Major Andre
said," so Ruth, instead of finding herself entirely supplanted by Betty,
as she had for a moment feared, was surrounded by the eager interest and
attention of the little group. It seemed to Ruth that she had never
before known how nice Betty Hastings really was. The older girl was
evidently greatly impressed by the fact that Ruth had sat next to the
English General at his dinner table.

"I wish I could have been you, Ruth," she declared admiringly.

"It was all right for Ruth to ask for her dog," Gilbert interrupted,
"but _I_ wouldn't have sat down at General Howe's table. Not much I
wouldn't."

"But Major Andre lifted me up. I didn't do it myself," replied Ruth,
suddenly ashamed that she had entirely forgotten that the English
officers were her enemies, and had even been rather pleased that no
other little girl in Philadelphia could say that she had sat at the
din