r callers
were bound to be disappointed.

XVI

THE ACCIDENT

Chippy, Jr., proved to be a great success. Even Mrs. Rusty Wren had
to admit, before he had finished his first day's work, that he was
an agreeable person to have about the house.

"Of course he isn't much of a singer," she remarked to Rusty, "but
he seems to have a quick eye for an insect, and he is kind to the
children. He is very neat, besides. I have watched him sharply,"
she added, "and I haven't caught him tracking any dirt into the
house--nor brushing any off his clothes onto my clean floor,
either."

Rusty, too, declared himself well satisfied with his helper.

"He's a spry worker," he said. "And he can get through our door as
easily as I can. He went in and out of the house two hundred and
fifty-seven times to-day; and not once did he get stuck in the
doorway."

For several days everything went so smoothly in Rusty Wren's
household that his wife began to feel more like herself again.
Jasper Jay did not come near their house to annoy them; and there
was plenty of food for all--thanks to the untiring efforts of
Chippy, Jr. Though she tried her hardest, Mrs. Rusty couldn't think
of anything to worry about. And her husband frequently remarked
that it was a lucky day for all of them when he decided to hire a
boy.

Both Rusty and his wife had quite forgotten the strange feeling of
that good little lady's that some sort of trouble was coming to
them on account of taking an outsider into their house.

So the days passed happily for them. And all the while their six
children were fast growing bigger. The proud parents often remarked
that they had never before known youngsters to change so rapidly.

So interested were Rusty and his wife in their children that they
failed to see that Chippy, Jr., was growing likewise. Indeed, he
now overtopped Rusty by half a head. But the Wrens--both husband
and wife--entirely overlooked that fact.

Neither did they happen to notice that Chippy, Jr., was beginning
to have a good deal of trouble squeezing through the door. For some
reason--due, perhaps, to the way the opening was made--for some
reason he could get into the house more easily than he could get
out of it.

He said nothing about this new difficulty, not wishing to disturb
the happiness of the Wren family, nor find himself out of work,
either.

Since he continued to grow from day to day there could be but one
outcome. And at last when Rus