heard differently about
you, for some people say that----" He stopped abruptly and looked
carefully around. Whatever it may have been that he was about to
say, for some reason he did not care to have his wife hear it. And
he happened to think that perhaps Mrs. Robin might be near-by.

"I don't care what people say," Rusty Wren told him. "When my
cousin gives a party it would be a shame if I couldn't go to it."

"I quite agree with you," said Jolly Robin. "And now I'll go and
give old Mr. Crow your answer."

"One moment!" Rusty Wren exclaimed. "What time will my cousin's
party begin?"

"Five o'clock!" Jolly Robin replied. "And it will last till
sundown."

The next morning Rusty Wren helped his wife so spryly that long
before midday the house-cleaning was finished. Although she tried
her best, Mrs. Rusty could think of no more tasks for her husband
to do--except to feed the children. That was a duty that would not
be finished until they were old enough to leave home and shift for
themselves.

On this day Rusty Wren dropped so many dainties into their gaping
mouths that his wife had to tell him that she didn't dare let the
youngsters have anything more to eat until the next day.

"And now you ought to stay in the house and have a good rest until
just before sunset," she told Rusty. "You've worked very hard ever
since dawn. And I know you're tired."

But Rusty declared that he much preferred to be out of doors
enjoying the fine weather.

His wife looked at him sharply when he said that. All day long
neither of them had mentioned the party which Rusty's cousin, Long
Bill Wren, was going to give at five o'clock that afternoon.

"I think," said Rusty, as he moved about uncomfortably under his
wife's gaze, "I think that since I've a little time to spare I'd
better go and see Mr. Frog, the tailor. You know you've been
telling me that my Sunday coat is beginning to look shiny--and I
suppose I really ought to have a new one."

Mrs. Rusty said that it was true--he did need a new coat. And she
assured her husband that she would be delighted to have him go to
the tailor's.

Now, she did not know that Mr. Frog had moved. She thought his shop
was on the banks of Broad Brook. But that was just another mistake
of hers. And if she had known where his tailoring parlors were then
located, she would certainly have raised a good many objections to
Rusty's visiting them on the day of his cousin's party. For Mr.
Frog's shop w