ay before yesterdays, I am a t'ree-card-monte man!"

"You're a three-card-what?"

Unable longer to restrain their mirth, that portion of the choir that was
in the bay-window now whooped with delight. And Sue, turning, beheld ten
figures writhing with joy.

"So!" she began severely. The ten sobered, and their cottas billowed in
a backward step. "So here you are!--where you have no business to be!"

Bobbie, the spokesman, ventured to the rescue of his mates. "But,
Momsey----"

"Now! No excuses! You all know that you do not come into this
drawing-room, to track up the carpet--look at your feet! And to pull
things about, like a lot of red Indians! And finger-print the mahogany!
And, oh, how disappointed I am in you! To disobey!"

"But the minister----" piped up the tow-headed boy.

"That's right!" she retorted sarcastically. "Blame it on Mr. Farvel! As
if you don't know the regulations!"

"But this is Mr. Farvel's house," urged Bobbie.

"A-a-ah!--Now that makes it worse! Now I know you've deliberately
ignored my mother's wishes! And if she finds you out, and, oh, I hope
she does, don't you come to me to save you from punishment? Depend upon
it, I shan't lift my little finger to help you! No! Not if it's bread
and water for a week! Not if you----"

A door slammed. From the library came the sound of quick steps. Then a
voice was upraised: "Susan! Susan!"

The red paled in Sue's cheeks. "Oh!" She threw out both arms as if to
sweep the entire choir to her. "Oh, my darlings!" she whispered
hoarsely. "Oh! Oh, mother mustn't see you! Go! Hurry!" As they
crowded to her, she thrust them backward, through the door to the
passage. "Oh, quick! Bobbie! My dears!"

Eight were crammed into the shelter of the passage. Four pressed against
their fellows but could not get across the sill in time. These Sue swept
into a crouching line at her back--as the library door opened, and Mrs.
Milo came panting into the room.

As mother and daughter faced each other, Hattie, seated quietly in the
bay-window, smiled at the two--so amazingly unlike. It was as if an
aristocratic, velvet-footed feline were bristling before a great,
good-tempered St. Bernard. In a curious way, too, and in a startling
degree, each woman subtracted sharply from the other. In the presence of
Sue, Mrs. Milo's petiteness became weakness, her dainty trimness
accentuated her helplessness, her delicate coloring looked ill-health;