alked in
them they said very plainly:

"Cheap! cheap! cheap!"

Soon the minister noted the approach of Deacon Abel. As the old man
stopped by the Kenway pew, the minister lost the thread of his
discourse, and stopped. A dread silence fell upon the church.

The deacon leaned forward in front of the little girls and Mrs. MacCall.
His face was very red, and he shook an admonitory finger at the startled
Neale O'Neil.

"Young man!" he said, sonorously. "Young man, you take off that wig and
put it in your pocket--or leave this place of worship immediately."

It was an awful moment--especially awful for everybody in the Kenway
pew. The girls' cheeks burned. Mrs. MacCall glared at the boy in utter
stupefaction.

Deacon Abel was a very stern man indeed--much more so than the clergyman
himself. All the young folk of the congregation stood in particular awe
of him.

But poor Neale O'Neil, unconscious of any wrong intent, merely gazed at
the old gentleman in surprise. "Wha--wha--_what_?" he gasped.

"Get out of here, young man!" exclaimed the deacon. "You have got the
whole crowd by the ears. A most disgraceful exhibition. If I had the
warming of your jacket I certainly would be glad."

"Oh!" exclaimed Ruth, horrified.

Agnes was really angry. She was an impulsive girl and she could not fail
to espouse the cause of anybody whom she considered "put upon." She rose
right up when Neale stumbled to his feet.

"Never you mind, Neale!" she whispered, shrilly. "He's a mean old thing!
I'm coming, too."

It was a very wrong thing to say, but Agnes never stopped to think how a
thing was going to sound when she was angry. The boy, his face aflame,
got out through the next pew, which chanced to be empty, and Agnes
followed right on behind him before Ruth could pull her back into her
seat.

Nobody could have stopped her. She felt that Neale O'Neil was being
ill-treated, and whatever else you could say about Aggie Kenway, you
could not truthfully say that she was not loyal to her friends.

"Cheap! cheap! cheap!" squeaked the deacon's boots as he went back up
one aisle while the boy and girl hurried up the other. It seemed to
Neale as though the church was filled with eyes, staring at him.

His red face was a fine contrast for his rainbow-hued hair, but Agnes
was as white as chalk.

The minister took up his discourse almost immediately, but it seemed to
the culprits making their way to the door as though the silence had held