ught it would be a fine joke on
me."

"I certainly shall punish her, Mildred. She is altogether too
thoughtless, and too careless of other people's feelings. She never does
wilful or malicious wrong, but she tumbles into mischief thoughtlessly.
She will be honestly grieved when she learns how frightened and upset
you were, and she'll never do such a thing again. But, the trouble is
she'll do some other thing that will be equally naughty, but something
that no one can foresee or warn her against."

"Well, just for my sake, Helen, don't punish her this time; at least,
not much. I really oughtn't to have gone to pieces so; I ought to have
realized that it could all be easily explained."

But Mrs. Maynard would not promise to condone Midget's fault entirely,
and argued that she really ought to be punished for what turned out to
be a troublesome affair.

Mrs. Harrison went home about four o'clock, and it was five before
Marjorie returned.

Her mother met her at the door.

"Did you have a pleasant time, Marjorie?" she said.

"Oh, yes, Mother; we had a lovely time. We went clear to Ridge Park. Oh,
I _do_ love to ride in an automobile."

"Go and take off your things, my child, and then come to me in my room."

"Yes, Mother," said Marjorie, and she danced away to take off her hat.

"Here I am, Mother," she announced, a little later. "Now shall I tell
you all about my afternoon?"

"Not quite yet, dear. I'll tell you all about my afternoon first. Mrs.
Harrison had a very unhappy time, and of course that made me unhappy
also."

"Why, Mother, what was the trouble about?"

Mrs. Maynard looked into the clear, honest eyes of her daughter, and
sighed as she realized that Marjorie had no thought of what had made the
trouble.

"Why did you put Dotty Curtis' cloak and hat on Totty?"

Then the recollection came back to Marjorie.

"Oh, Mother!" she cried, as she burst into a ringing peal of laughter.
"Wasn't it a funny joke! Did Mrs. Harrison laugh? Did she know her own
baby?"

"Marjorie, I'm ashamed of you. No, Mrs. Harrison did not laugh. Of
course she knew that the child you left in the carriage was not her
little Totty, and as she didn't know what had happened, she had a very
bad scare, and her nerves were completely unstrung."

"But why, Mother?" said Marjorie, looking puzzled. "I thought she
wouldn't know the difference. But if she did know right away it wasn't
Totty, why didn't she go over to Mrs. Curtis' and c