you ever heard
of such a thing as the Employers' Liability Act?"

The girls shook their heads. Jack had glimmering ideas on the subject.

"It's a sort of--er--of insurance, isn't it? If a workman fellow drops
a sack on your head, the other fellow has to pay up, so he pays the
insurance fellow to do it for him. That's the sort of thing, isn't it,
sir?"

"That is the sort of thing, sir, expressed with your natural elegance of
diction. Does your father contract with an `insurance fellow,' may I
ask?"

"No--why should he? He doesn't employ any workmen."

"He is responsible for his children, however, who are a hundred times
more dangerous. How will he like it, do you think, when I send him in a
bill for my expenses, and the loss of time caused by this accident? I
put a high price on my time, let me tell you. It is of value to other
people besides myself--of value to my country, sir, I am proud to think!
If I am laid aside by the hand of Providence, that is one matter. It's
a very different thing when it is done of malice intent. What should
you say to a hundred pounds a week, eh, what?"

Jill gave a squeal of dismay. Betty set her lips tight, and tried to
look composed and haughty, but she felt a trifle sick. She could hardly
bring herself to believe that such a proceeding would be legally
possible, yet the old gentleman had distinctly said that such a law
existed, and Jack appeared to know something about it. Beneath his air
of bravado she could see that the boy shared in her own nervousness, and
a wild idea of flinging herself at the stranger's feet and imploring his
clemency was beginning to take shape in her brain, when a sound from
without attracted the attention of all.

It was the click of the doctor's key in the latch, and a moment later he
entered the hall, and paused, as his custom was, to read the messages
which had been pencilled for him on a slate. Then came the rustle of
Mary's skirt, a few low-toned words, and the sound of quick steps
approaching the dining-room door. It was a thrilling moment!

There sat the victim, scarlet-faced, glassy-eyed, scowling more fiercely
than ever, as if in anticipation of the coming conflict. There in a row
stood the three young people, shivering in their respective shoes, for
was it not the greatest of offences to "worry father," and involve him
in needless expenses?

"Sorry to have been out, sir," cried the doctor, entering the room, and
rubbing his h