ould
have missed if it hadn't been for you."

"I wonder how the girls like their gifts?" mused Dick.

It was sheer good luck that had enabled these youngsters to make
a good showing. A new-style device for women, consisting of heater
and tongs for curling the hair, was on the market this year.
Electric current was required for the heater, but both Laura and
Belle had electric light service in their homes. This new-style
device was one of the fads of this Christmas season. The retail
price was eight dollars per outfit, and a good many had been sold
before the holidays. The advertising agent for the manufacturing
concern had been in town, and had presented "The Blade" with two
of these devices. Despite the eight-dollar price, the devices
cost only a small fraction of that amount to manufacture, so the
advertising agent had not been extremely generous in leaving the
pair.

"What on earth shall we do with them?" grunted Pollock, in Dick's
hearing. "We're all bachelors here."

"Sell 'em to me, if you don't want 'em," spoke up Dick, quickly.
"What'll you take for 'em? Make it low, to fit a schoolboy's
shallow purse."

"Hm! I'll speak to the proprietor about it," replied Pollock,
who presently brought back the word:

"As they're for you, Dick, the proprietor says you can take the
pair for two-fifty. And if you're short of cash, I'll take fifty
cents a week out of your space bill until the amount is paid."

"Fine and dandy!" uttered Dick, his eyes glowing.

"One's for your mother," hinted Mr. Pollock teasingly. "_But
who's the girl_?"

"Two girls," Dick corrected him, unabashed. "My mother never
uses hair-curlers."

"_Two girls_?" cried Mr. Pollock, looking aghast. "Dick! Dick!
You study history at the High School, don't you?"

"Yes, sir; of course."

"Then don't you know, my boy, how often _two girls_ have altered
the fates of whole nations? Tremble and be wise!"

"I haven't any girl," Dick retorted, sensibly, "and I think a
fellow is weak-minded to talk about having a girl until he can
also talk authoritatively on the ability to support a wife. But
there's a good deal of social life going on at the High School,
Mr. Pollock, and I'm very, very glad of this chance to cancel
my obligations so cheaply and at the same time rather handsomely."

So Laura and Belle had each received, that Christmas morning,
a present that proved a source of delight.

"Yet I didn't expect the foolish boys to send m