entriloquists.

One afternoon, after playing romping games upon the lawn until weary
enough to enjoy a quiet rest on the veranda where the older people
were, they had hardly seated themselves when they heard a sound of
approaching footsteps, then a voice that seemed like that of a little
girl, asking, "Dear little ladies and gentlemen, may I sit here with
you for a while? I'm lonesome and would be glad of good company, such
as I am sure yours must be."

Some of the children, hearing the voice but not able to see the
speaker, seemed struck dumb with surprise.

It was Violet who answered, "Oh, yes, little girl. Take this empty
chair by me and tell me who you are."

"Oh, madam, I really can't tell you my name," answered the voice, now
seeming to come from the empty chair by Violet's side. "It seems an
odd thing to happen, but there are folks who do sometimes forget their
own name."

"And that is the case with you now, is it?" laughed Violet. "Your
voice sounds like that of a girl, but I very much doubt if you belong
to our sex."

"Isn't that rather insulting, madam?" asked the voice in an offended
tone.

"Oh, I know you're not a girl or a woman either!" cried Ned Raymond
gleefully, clapping his hands and laughing with delight. "You're a
man, just pretending to be a little girl."

"That is insulting, you rude little chap, and I shall just go away,"
returned the voice in indignant tones, followed immediately by the
sound of footsteps starting from the chair beside Violet and gradually
dying away in the distance.

"Why, she went off in a hurry and I couldn't see her at all!"
exclaimed one of the young visitors; then, as everybody laughed, "Oh,
of course it was Cousin Ronald or Cousin Max!"

"Why, the voice sounded to me like that of a little girl," said
Violet, "and Cousin Ronald and Max are men."

"Of course they are, and could not talk in the sweet tones of my
little girl," said a rough masculine voice that seemed to come from
the doorway into the hall.

Involuntarily nearly everybody turned to look for the speaker, but he
was not to be seen.

"And who are you and your girl?" asked another voice, seeming to speak
from the farther end of the veranda.

"People of consequence, whom you should treat with courtesy," answered
the other, who seemed to stand in the doorway.

"As we will if you will come forward and show yourselves," laughed
Lucilla, putting up her hand as she spoke to drive away a bee that
see