out, and then froze with
horror that the ill-fated words had slipped off her tongue.

However, Mrs. Bird said, pleasantly, "Of course you wouldn't wear hats
such a short distance--I forgot when I asked. Now will you come right in
to Miss Carol's room? She is so anxious to see you."

Just then Sarah Maud came up the back stairs, so radiant with joy from
her secret interview with the cook that Peter could have pinched her
with a clear conscience; and Carol gave them a joyful welcome. "But
where is Baby Larry?" she cried, looking over the group with searching
eye. "Didn't he come?"

"Larry! Larry!" Good gracious, where was Larry? They were all sure that
he had come in with them, for Susan remembered scolding him for tripping
over the door-mat. Uncle Jack went into convulsions of laughter. "Are
you sure there were nine of you?" he asked, merrily.

"I think so, sir," said Peoria, timidly; "but anyhow, there was Larry;"
and she showed signs of weeping.

"Oh, well, cheer up!" cried Uncle Jack. "Probably he's not lost--only
mislaid. I'll go and find him before you can say Jack Robinson!"

"I'll go, too, if you please, sir," said Sarah Maud, "for it was my
place to mind him, an' if he's lost I can't relish my vittles!"

The other Ruggleses stood rooted to the floor. Was this a dinner-party,
forsooth; and if so, why were such things ever spoken of as festive
occasions?

Sarah Maud went out through the hall, calling, "Larry! Larry!" and
without any interval of suspense a thin voice piped up from below, "Here
I be!"

The truth was that Larry, being deserted by his natural guardian,
dropped behind the rest, and wriggled into the hat-tree to wait for her,
having no notion of walking unprotected into the jaws of a fashionable
entertainment. Finding that she did not come, he tried to crawl from his
refuge and call somebody, when--dark and dreadful ending to a tragic
day--he found that he was too much intertwined with umbrellas and canes
to move a single step. He was afraid to yell (when I have said this of
Larry Ruggles I have pictured a state of helpless terror that ought to
wring tears from every eye); and the sound of Sarah Maud's beloved
voice, some seconds later, was like a strain of angel music in his ears.
Uncle Jack dried his tears, carried him upstairs, and soon had him in
breathless fits of laughter, while Carol so made the other Ruggleses
forget themselves that they were presently talking like accomplished
diners