ore Mrs.
Fenelby could see him, and explain about that box of cigars. If Tom
was to be held responsible for the duty on it Tom should at least
know that a box of cigars had been brought into the house. It was
absolutely necessary for Billy to see Tom, and explain a few things.

"We have none of us been out enough to-day," said Mrs. Fenelby. "It
will do us all good to walk down to the station, and we will take
Bobberts."

Billy stood still. The cheerful expression that had rested on his
face faded. There would be a pretty lot of trouble if the whole lot
of them went in a group, and he wondered that Kitty did not see
this, and why she did not say something to dissuade Mrs. Fenelby
from leaving the house. He simply had to get a few words with Tom in
private before Mrs. Fenelby could ask her husband about the cigars.

[Illustration: "When the 6:02 pulled in"]

"I wouldn't advise it," said Billy, shaking his head. "No, indeed. I
wouldn't take the chance, Laura." He walked to the end of the porch
and peered earnestly at the western sky. It was a singularly clear
and cloudless sky. "I'm afraid it will rain," he explained, boldly.
"It wouldn't do to take Bobberts out and let him get rained on. It
looks just like one of those evenings when a rain comes up all of
a sudden. I wouldn't risk it."

"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Fenelby, shortly, and she gathered the crowing
Bobberts into her arms and started. Kitty also arose, but Billy hung
back.

"I guess I won't go," he declared. "It looks too much like rain."

"Nonsense!" declared Mrs. Fenelby again. "You come right along. I
don't believe it will rain for a week."

There was nothing for him to do but to go, and he went. The three of
them were standing on the platform when the 6:02 pulled in, and they
looked eagerly for Mr. Fenelby, but they did not see him among the
alighting commuters. Mr. Fenelby saw them first. He saw them before
the train pulled up to the station, for he had been standing on the
car platform with a box under his arm, ready to make a dash for home
the moment the train stopped, but now he stepped back and, as the
train slowed down, he jumped off on the opposite side of the train.
There was a small row of evergreens on the little lawn of the
station, and he stepped behind one of them and waited. Between the
thin branches of the tree he could see his family, when the train
pulled out, looking eagerly at the straggling line of commuters. The
box he held was hea