Dad's office to get some lunch. He and Dick insisted on
holding me there till quarter past."

Brother looked at Sister. Sister looked at Brother. They had both
forgotten they meant to telephone Ralph at half-past twelve!

"Don't worry over it, Brother," said Ralph, laughing. "No serious harm
was done, old chap. I made Dad tell me the mysterious reason of the
wait, and when you didn't 'phone in we all three concluded the party
had been too much for you. I'm glad you liked the dog."

"Oh, yes!" Brother seized upon this safe topic. "It is the nicest dog,
Ralph. And I did mean to say thank you,' only I forgot."

After Daddy Morrison and Ralph and Dick had gone off to the station,
Brother and Sister began to have queer feelings. Yes'm, they both felt
"somehow different," as Brother said.

"I don't want to clear off the table," complained Sister, drawing
pictures on the tablecloth with a fork, a practice which Molly had
always sternly forbidden.

"Neither do I," agreed Brother. "Let's go out in the barn and play."

"Jimmie won't like it," suggested Sister, taking up a cup so carelessly
that some of the coffee left in it slopped over on the clean cloth.

"Jimmie doesn't own the barn," sniffed Brother crossly. "I guess we can
just play in it without hurting any of his stuff."

"Here, here, what are you talking so long about?" demanded Molly
good-naturedly.

She came to the dining-room door and inspected the table critically.

"Just as I thought," she said grimly. "Too much party yesterday!
Sister, give me that cup and stop marking the cloth. Run off and play,
both of you, till you get over being cross. I'd rather do the work
myself than listen to you grumble."

Thus dismissed, Brother and Sister wandered off to the barn. They ought
to have felt happy with the extra time for play, but, for some reason,
they were decidedly uncomfortable.

"Everybody's busy," grumbled Brother. "Nobody cares what we do. Louise
and Grace are sewing, and Mother is going to make strawberry jam. Let's
try the rings, Betty."

They were inside the old barn now, and the swinging rings had always
fascinated Sister. But she knew that Jimmie had said they were not to
touch them, and indeed Daddy Morrison had warned the children not to
play in the barn unless some of the older boys were with them.

"It is really Jimmie's and Ralph's gymnasium," he had explained. "They
know how to use the apparatus, and you don't. When you are older,
Jimmie