ne
dashes from the back row of chairs, and we sees Joey Billings makin' a
clutch at the bear's head. It came off too, with a rip of snap hooks,
and reveals Nutt Hamilton's big moon face with a wide grin on it.

"You, eh?" says Joey. "I thought as much. Your old masquerade trick! And
anyone else would have had better sense. Don't you think you're beast
enough without----"

"Stop!" breaks in Blair, his lips blue and trembly and the tears
beginnin' to trickle down his nose. "You--you've no right to interfere.
I--I was going to smash him. I'll kill the big brute! I--I'll----"

Once more Joey does the right thing; for Blair is blubberin' hysterical
and the scene is gettin' worse. So she just tucks him under one arm,
claps a hand over his mouth, and lugs him kickin' and strugglin' into
the lib'ry, givin' Nutt a shove to one side as she brushes by.

You can guess too there was some panicky doin's in the Ellins's drawin'
room for the next few minutes; Mr. Robert and Marjorie and others tryin'
to tell Hamilton what they thought of him, all at the same time. And
Nutt was takin' it sheepish.

"Oh, I say!" he protests. "I was only trying to have a bit of fun with
the little runt, you know. I only meant to----"

"Fun!" breaks in Mr. Robert savage. "This is neither a backwoods barroom
nor a hunting camp, and I want to assure you right now, Hamilton,
that----"

But in comes young Blair again. He's had the tear stains swabbed off,
and he's got some of his color back; but he's still wabbly in the knees.
He pushes right to the front, though.

"I suppose you all think me a great baby," says he, "to get so
frightened and to cry over such a silly trick. Perhaps I am a baby. At
least I haven't control of my nerves. Would you, though, if you had
been an invalid for fifteen years? Well, I have. And a good part of that
time, you know, I spent in hospitals and sanatoriums, and traveling
around with trained nurses and three or four relatives to wait on me and
humor my whims. Even when I was studying music abroad it was that way.
And I suppose I'm not really strong now. So I couldn't help being
afraid. But I don't want your sympathy. You need not scold Hamilton any
more, either. He can't help being a big bully any more than I can help
acting like a baby. He doesn't know any better--never will. All beef and
no brains! And at that I don't care to change places with him. Some day
I shall be well and fairly strong. He'll never have any better