that, there's
usually a cloud in the parsonage sky-light. Prudence says so."

But the twins comported themselves most decorously. All during the week
they worked like kitchen slaveys, doing chores, running errands. And
they treated Fairy with a gentle consideration which almost drew tears
to her eyes, though she still remembered Prudence's cloud in the
parsonage sky-light!

They certainly interfered with her own plans. They engineered her off on
to their beloved professor at every conceivable turn. And Gene, who
nearly haunted the house, had a savage gleam in his eyes quite out of
accord with his usual chatty good humor. Fairy knew she was being
adroitly managed, but she had promised to help the twins with "Duckie."
At first she tried artistically and unobtrusively to free herself from
the complication in which her sisters had involved her. But the twins
were both persistent and clever, and Fairy found herself no match for
them when it came right down to business. She had no idea of their
purpose,--she only knew that she and Gene were always on opposite sides
of the room, the young man grinning savagely at the twins' merry
prattle, and she and the professor trying to keep quiet enough to hear
every word from the other corner. And if they walked, Gene was dragged
off by the firm slender fingers of the friendly twins, and Fairy and the
professor walked drearily along in the rear, talking inanely about the
weather,--and wondering what the twins were talking about.

And the week passed. Gene finally fell off in his attendance, and the
twins took a much needed rest. On Friday afternoon they flattered
themselves that all was well. Gene was not coming, Fairy was in the
hammock waiting for the professor. So the twins hugged each other
gleefully and went to the haymow to discuss the strain and struggle of
the week. And then--

"Why, the big mutt!" cried Carol, in her annoyance ignoring the
Methodist grammatical boundaries, "here comes that bubbling Babler this
minute. And he said he was going to New London for the day. Now we'll
have to chase down there and shoo him off before Duckie comes." The
twins, growling and grumbling, gathered themselves up and started. But
they started too reluctantly, too leisurely. They were not in time.

Fairy sat up in the hammock with a cry of surprise, but not vexation,
when Gene's angry countenance appeared before her.

"Look here, Fairy," he began, "what's the joke? Are your fingers itchi