from tears, and said:--

"This time, it was your turn."

"This time, it was my fault."

"Your fault?"

"Yes; it was stupid, my letting you hold it so. I knew it was
dangerous."

Winifred shook her head, in a wilful little way of hers which always
reminds me of a Shetland pony.

"Pardon me, but I think I should have done it whether you had let me
or not. I should have had to pay pretty dearly for my venture though,
if you had not been so quick, and as for the poor coat--" Here she
picked it up from the floor where it had fallen. "What a pity it
should have a hole right in front!--but Miss Standish will make it as
good as new, though. You never saw any one who can darn like Miss
Standish" (which is quite true).

"Papa," she added, turning to her father, who had been utterly
unnerved by the accident, and was now walking up and down with a vain
pretence of calmness. "Papa, you can lend Mr. Flint a coat for
to-night, can't you?"

"Oh, certainly, certainly! what will he have--a dressing-gown or a
Tuxedo?"

"Thank you," said Flint, with gravity; "but, if the etiquette of
Nepaug will not be violated by a shirt-sleeve costume, I can go as I
am, though indeed I do not like giving Miss Standish so much trouble,
and the coat is a veteran anyway, only promoted to the Nepaug station
after long service elsewhere."

"Veterans always command my respect," I answered, "and deserve at
least repairs at the hands of their country."

"All very fine," said Dr. Cricket; "but I advise you to wear your coat
home to-night, even if you send it back to-morrow. It is easier to
mend coats than constitutions."

"And cheaper," I suggested.

"I'll tell you," Winifred broke in, seeing Dr. Cricket glowering at
me. "He shall neither risk a cold by going home in this night air
without his coat, nor tear the sleeves out of papa's, which would
surely be half-a-dozen sizes too small. He shall wear my golf cape. Go
up to my closet and get it, Jimmy!--the blue one lined with red."

Jimmy, who having once been relieved of anxiety as to his sister's
life, had spent his time in maligning her as the cause of stopping his
fire-works exhibition, turned somewhat sulkily to obey her command; as
he went he fired a parting shot: "This is what comes of girls meddling
with things they don't understand."

"James!"

When Mr. Anstice says "_James_," he is not to be trifled with; and his
son ventured no further remarks, only emphasized his feelings by a