was gone an hour and a half. Upon his solemn return he
reported that Roddy's father had been summoned by telephone to bring his
son to the house of Uncle Ethelbert. Mr. Bitts had forthwith appeared
with Roddy, and, when Mr. Schofield came away, Roddy was still (after
half an hour's previous efforts) explaining his honourable intentions.
Mr. Schofield indicated that Roddy's condition was agitated, and that he
was having a great deal of difficulty in making his position clear.

Penrod's imagination paused outside the threshold of that room in Mr.
Ethelbert Magsworth Bitts' house, and awe fell upon him when he thought
of it. Roddy seemed to have disappeared within a shrouding mist where
Penrod's mind refused to follow him.

"Well, he got back his ole horn!" said Sam after school the next
afternoon. "I KNEW we had a perfect right to call him whatever we wanted
to! I bet you hated to give up that good ole horn, Penrod."

But Penrod was serene. He was even a little superior.

"Pshaw!" he said. "I'm goin' to learn to play on sumpthing better'n any
ole horn. It's lots better, because you can carry it around with you
anywhere, and you couldn't a horn."

"What is it?" Sam asked, not too much pleased by Penrod's air of
superiority and high content. "You mean a jew's-harp?"

"I guess not! I mean a flute with all silver on it and everything. My
father's goin' to buy me one."

"I bet he isn't!"

"He is, too," said Penrod; "soon as I'm twenty-one years old."

CHAPTER XXIII. THE PARTY

____________________________
| |
| Miss Amy Rennsdale |
| |
| At Home |
| Saturday, the twenty-third |
| from three to six |
| |
| R.s.v.p. Dancing |
----------------------------

This little card, delicately engraved, betokened the hospitality
incidental to the ninth birthday anniversary of Baby Rennsdale, youngest
member of the Friday Afternoon Dancing Class, and, by the same token, it
represented the total social activity (during that season) of a certain
limited bachelor set consisting of Messrs. Penrod Schofield and Samuel
Williams. The truth must be faced: Penrod and Sam were seldom invited to
small parties; they were considered too imaginative. But in the case of
so large an affair as Miss Rennsdale's, the feeling that their parents