ng, jabbed his shrill nose into
space and harmony with a carol of his own,--octaves of agony,--Heaven
knows what of ecstasy,--that would have hurried an owl to its nest, a
ghoul to a moving picture show!

"Wow-Wow--_Wow_!" caroled Beautiful-Lovely.
"Ww--ow--Ww--ow--_Ww--Oo--Wwwww_!"

As Flame's hands dropped from the piano the unmistakable creak of red
wheels sounded on the frozen driveway just outside.

No one but "Bertrand the Lay Reader" drove a buggy with red wheels! To
the infinite scandalization of the Parish--no one but "Bertrand the
Lay Reader" drove a buggy with red wheels!--Fleet steps sounded
suddenly on the path! Startled fists beat furiously on the door!

"What is it? What is it?" shouted a familiar voice. "Whatever in the
world is happening? Is it _murder_? Let me in! _Let me in!_"

"Sil--ly!" hissed Flame through a crack in the door. "It's nothing but
a party! Don't you know a--a party when you hear it?"

For an instant only, blank silence greeted her confidence. Then
"Bertrand the Lay Reader" relaxed in an indisputably genuine gasp of
astonishment.

"Why! Why, is that you, Miss Flame?" he gasped. "Why, I thought it was
a murder! Why--Why, whatever in the world are you doing here?"

"I--I'm having a party," hissed Flame through the key-hole.

"A--a--party?" stammered the Lay Reader. "Open the door!"

"No, I--can't," said Flame.

"Why not?" demanded the Lay Reader.

Helplessly in the darkness of the vestibule Flame looked up,--and
down,--and sideways,--but met always in every direction the memory of
her promise.

"I--I just can't," she admitted a bit weakly. "It wouldn't be
convenient.--I--I've got trouble with my eyes."

"Trouble with your eyes?" questioned the Lay Reader.

"I didn't go away with my Father and Mother," confided Flame.

"No,--so I notice," observed the Lay Reader. "_Please_ open the door!"

"Why?" parried Flame.

"I've been looking for you everywhere," urged the Lay Reader. "At the
Senior Warden's! At all the Vestrymen's houses! Even at the Sexton's!
I knew you didn't go away! The Garage Man told me there were only
two!--I thought surely I'd find you at your own house.--But I only
found sled tracks."

"That was me,--I," mumbled Flame.

"And then I heard these awful screams," shuddered the Lay Reader.

"That was a Carol," said Flame.

"A Carol?" scoffed the Lay Reader. "Open the door!"

"Well--just a crack," conceded Flame.

It was astonishing how a man as bro