abrupt
entrance, but the outer door being open, I made bold to enter;" then
explanatory to Cyn, "Your door was locked, as also was mine, of which
Quimby has the key; and as Celeste has not yet been able to part with
him, there I have been standing in the hall, like patience with a load
of dandelions!"

"We were having such an interesting conversation," Cyn answered, with a
scornful glance in Miss Kling's direction, "that I quite forgot you and
the lapse of time."

Clem instantly became aware of something amiss in the atmosphere, and
glanced around inquiringly. Miss Kling immediately enlightened him.

"There are many things you make bold to do, young man!" she said.
"Putting telegraph apparatus in my house, for instance!"

"Ah!" exclaimed Clem, comprehensively.

"Yes;" went on the aggrieved Miss Kling, "you and that Quimby, I
suppose, did it. The idea originated with you, of course. _He_ hasn't
brains enough; if he had he would not marry Celeste!" and Miss Kling
sniffed in utter contempt of poor Quimby.

"Thanks for the compliment to _my_ intellectual abilities!" said Clem with
a mischievous look; then advancing towards her, he answered in his own
frank, manly way, "And so you have found us out? But I trust you will
not be offended with us? It is, after all, a trifle, and we said nothing
about it merely because we wished to have a little mystery of our own!
It was, as the newsboys would say, a lark of ours!"

"Lark!" repeated Miss Kling, drawing herself up stiffly; "young man, you
will oblige me by not using slang in my presence!"

"Pardon me," said Clem, good humoredly; "and in regard to the wire,
blame me, if you must blame any one. As you say, it was all my doing,
and I induced Miss Rogers to allow the wire to come into her room."

"And I, too," added Cyn, propitiatingly, for Nattie's sake, "I wished to
learn the business, you know!"

But Miss Kling would not propitiate.

"Miss Rogers, I have no doubt, was very ready to be induced!" she said,
with an effort at sarcasm. "I have heard of young females so much in
love that they would run after and pursue young men, but never before of
one so carried away and so lost to every sense of decorum, as to be
obliged to have a wire run from her room to his, in order to communicate
with him at improper times!"

This accusation, far-fetched and ridiculous as it was, yet being uttered
in the presence of Clem, overwhelmed poor Nattie, and she sank on the
lounge, bury