ut why is it so unlikely?
Eddy Carroll has had everything but shooting happen to him."

"Yes, he has been everything except shot," moaned Mrs. Carroll.

"My dearest dear, don't worry over such a thing as that!"

"But, Arthur," pleaded Mrs. Carroll, "what else is there left for us
to worry about?"

Carroll's mouth twitched a little, but he looked and spoke quite
gravely. "Well," he said, "I am going now, and I shall find the boy
and bring him home safe and sound, and-- Amy, darling, have you eaten
anything?"

"Oh, Arthur," cried his wife, reproachfully, "do you think I could
eat when Eddy did not come home to dinner, and always something
dreadful has happened other times when he has not come? Eddy has
never stayed away just for mischief, and then come home as good as
ever. Something has always happened which has been the reason."

"Well, perhaps he has stayed away for mischief alone, and that is
what has happened now instead of the shooting," said Carroll.

"Arthur, if--if he has, you surely will not--"

"Arthur, you will not punish that boy if he does come home again safe
and sound?" cried his sister.

Carroll laughed. "Have either of you eaten anything?" he asked.

"Of course not," replied his sister, indignantly.

"How could we, dear?" said his wife. "I had thought I was quite
hungry, and when the butcher sent the roast, after all--"

"Perhaps I had better wait and not pay him until he does not send
anything," murmured Anna Carroll, as if to herself. "And when the
roast did come, I was glad, but, after all, I could not touch it."

"Well, you must both eat to-night to make up for it," said Carroll.

"I had thought you would as soon have it cold for dinner to-night,"
said Mrs. Carroll, in her soft, complaining voice. "We would not have
planned it for our noon lunch, but we were afraid to ask the butcher
for chops, too, and as long as there were no eggs for breakfast, we
felt the need of something substantial; but, of course, when that
darling boy did not come, and we had reason to think he was shot, we
could not--" Mrs. Carroll leaned weepingly against her husband, but
he put her from him gently.

"Now, Amy, dearest," said he, "I am going to find Eddy and bring him
home, and--you say Marie has gone to hunt for him?"

"Yes, she went in one direction, and Ina and Charlotte in others,"
said Anna Carroll.

"Well," said Carroll, "I will send Marie home at once, and I wish you
would see that she prepares