ean to go so far down the woof!" she
cried, cuddling into Laura's arms.

"Oh, girls! I could kneel to that boy! I'd go and kiss him now only I
know boys hate to be fussed over!" declared Laura.

"I'll give him a bushel of kisses!" cried Lois rapturously, whereupon
they kissed her all round while Nettie looked on enviously at the stir
the little maid was making.

"I wonder why when I'm naughty I get a scolding instead of kisses," she
confided to Claude.

"I suppose it's because you've never been quite that naughty, though
you've been pretty bad," he said, which latter assurance consoled his
chum.

CHAPTER XXVII

IN THE TOWER

Later in the evening when the smaller children had gone home, some of
the others proposed a visit to the tower room to view the sunset, and a
gay crowd scurried up the stairs.

Ivy, who could climb the stairs almost as nimbly as her mates, lingered
in the rear with Jack Lever.

"It's pretty hard lines," he remarked smilingly, answering her
sympathetic expression.

"Yes, indeed, but you will be all right in no time! Just be thankful
it won't last for years and years!"

"The brave little gipsy!" thought Jack. He gave her a kindly glance,
noting with an insight gained by his late acquaintance with pain, the
marks of suffering always so pathetic on a childish face.

"Things like this teach us a lot, don't you think? I feel as if I'd
become quite old, tied so long to a sofa, like a thing-um-bub--those
lace affairs the girls make, you know--"

"A tidy?"

"Untidy I call 'em, always sticking to a fellow's coat! If it wasn't
for the Torchlights, I'd have gone all to pieces."

Ivy started, but curbing her curiosity and profiting by Laura's
experience she merely repeated,

"The--the Torchlights?"

"Yes, our club, you know."

Ivy felt that Jack was ready and willing to enlarge upon the theme; she
chuckled inwardly, gleefully anticipating the tale she would have for
the other girls.

Alas, at that moment Jed came up the stairs with a large pitcher of
lemonade and glasses on a tray, and Kizzie followed with a huge frosted
cake.

"We thought you would like this, along with the sunset," she said.

Together they climbed the fourth and last flight of stairs and received
a noisy greeting from the others on entering the tower room.

Jack gave them an elaborate bow.

"I assure you, my friends, we feel flattered by this demonstrative
welcome."

"We don't want to throw cold l