ck into a corner.

Mary-'Gusta saw the music chair and a quiver of guilty fear tinged along
her spine; that particular chair had always been, to her, the bright,
particular glory of the house. Not because it was beautiful, for that it
distinctly was not; but because of the marvellous secret hidden beneath
its upholstered seat. Captain Marcellus had brought it home years and
years before, when he was a sea-going bachelor and made voyages to
Hamburg. In its normal condition it was a perfectly quiet and ugly
chair, but there was a catch under one arm and a music box under the
seat. And if that catch were released, then when anyone sat in it, the
music box played "The Campbell's Are Coming" with spirit and jingle.
And, moreover, kept on playing it to the finish unless the catch was
pushed back again.

To Mary-'Gusta that chair was a perpetual fascination. She had been
expressly forbidden to touch it, had been shut in the dark closet more
than once for touching it; but, nevertheless, the temptation was always
there and she had yielded to that temptation at intervals when Mrs.
Hobbs and her stepfather were out. And the last time she had touched it
she had broken the catch. She had wound up the music box, after hearing
it play, but the catch which made it a perfectly safe seat and not a
trap for the unwary had refused to push back into place. And now
there it was, loaded and primed, so to speak, and she was responsible.
Suppose--Oh, horrible thought!--suppose anyone should sit in it that
afternoon!

She gasped and jumped off the sofa. Then she remembered Mrs. Hobbs'
parting command and stopped, hesitating. Mr. Hallett, standing at the
end of the hall, by the front door, heard her move and tiptoed to the
sitting-room.

"What's the matter, little girl?" he whispered, soothingly.

"No-nothin'," gasped Mary-'Gusta.

"You're sure?"

"Ye-yes, sir."

"All right. Then you set down on the sofa and keep still. You mustn't
make any noise. The folks are comin' now. Set right down on the sofy,
that's a good girl!"

So back to the sofa went Mary-'Gusta, trembling with apprehension. From
her seat she could see along the hall and also through the other door
into the "big settin'-room," where, also, there were rows of chairs.
And, to her horror, these chairs began to fill. People, most of them
dressed in church-going garments which rattled and rustled, were
tiptoeing in and sitting down where she could see them and they could
see