.

"Penfield," he said, "a gentleman should never permit anything to
interfere with the keeping of his engagements. If the matter in hand
is of sufficient importance to call for an engagement, it is of
sufficient importance to keep the engagement so made. It is an
elementary principle of good conduct that a gentleman should always
keep his word. Otherwise the relations of men with each other would
become chaotic."

"Yes, sir," replied Pen.

Colonel Butler removed his glasses and again applied himself to the
disposal of his food which had been cut into convenient portions by
his devoted daughter.

But his mind soon recurred to the subject of the flag.

"A--Penfield," he inquired, "do you chance to know whether any person
has been chosen to make a formal response to my speech of
presentation?"

Pen felt that the conversation was approaching an embarrassing stage,
but there was no hesitancy in his manner as he replied:

"Yes, sir. The boy that got your offer, Aleck Sands, will make the
response."

"H'm! I was hoping, expecting in fact, that you, yourself, would be
chosen to perform that pleasing duty. Had you been, we could have
prepared our several speeches with a view to their proper relation to
each other. It occurred to me that your teacher, Miss Grey, would have
this fact in mind. Do you happen to know of any reason why she should
not have appointed you?"

For the first time in the course of the conversation Pen hesitated and
stammered.

"Why, I--she--she did appoint me."

"Haven't you just told me, sir, that--"

"But, grandfather, I declined."

Aunt Millicent dropped her hands into her lap in astonishment.

"Pen Butler!" she exclaimed, "why haven't you told me a word of this
before?"

"Because, Aunt Milly, it wasn't a very agreeable incident, and I
didn't want to bother you telling about it."

Colonel Butler had, in the meantime, again put on his glasses in order
that he might look more searchingly at his grandson.

"Permit me to inquire," he asked, "why you should have declined so
distinct an honor?"

Then Pen blurted out his whole grievance.

"Because Aleck Sands didn't do the fair thing. He got you to give the
flag through him instead of through me, by a mean trick. He gets the
credit of getting the flag; now let him have the honor of accepting
it. I won't play second fiddle to such a fellow as he is, and that's
all there is to it."

He pushed his chair back from the table and sat, wit