l tell you what I'll do. I'll go to the dentist's and have these
bad teeth fixed that Doc and Mrs. Evans and you have been at me about.
Next to going to church that's the awfullest thing I know of and I'll
do it. Doc says that bad teeth make a bad stomach and a bad stomach
makes a bad man and it may be so. And as for that ten-dollar gold
piece, I don't see why you can't send that by Barney, same as you'd
send him to the bank for change or to Tony's to pay the gas bill. When
I go back now I'll just send Barney along with it, and then I'll go see
Doc Mitchell and let him kill me with that there machine of his."

That's how it happened that a little thin hand caught Nanny Ainslee's
just as she was entering the church door and Barney of the spindle legs
begged frenziedly for assistance.

"Aw, Nan--look at this!" and he held out the gold piece. "Billy Evans'
got a little baby down to his house and he's clean crazy. Grandma
Wentworth's bossing the baby show and she says for you to take the
minister home to dinner. And Billy's sent this here and wants me to
put it in the collection box and I don't dast. Why, say, old man
Austin that passes the collection plate would have me pinched if he saw
me drop that in it.

"And, anyhow, I ain't been liked around here ever since last Christmas
when I got three boxes of candy by mistake. And, gee--Nan, I don't
know what to do about it. Billy Evans is the best man in this here
town and I'd do most anything for him, but he's such a good guy himself
he don't see that church ain't any place for a kid like me and that it
was a mistake to send me with this coin."

Nan's amazement gave way to sudden enlightenment. She knew now why
Grandma Wentworth had not put in an appearance, and knowing Billy Evans
well, she instantly comprehended the situation.

"Barney, what in the world are you talking about, saying this church is
no place for you. This is just the place for a boy who gets several
boxes of Christmas candy by mistake. You come right along with me."

"Aw, Nan, why can't you drop it in for me? I just ain't got the nerve.
I'd rather get all my teeth pulled like Hank is going to do. Why, say,
Nan, just the sight of old Austin makes my hair curl. I tell ya he
don't like me and I'll be pinched--"

But Nan had already drawn Billy's spindle-legged assistant inside and
as no man yet had been known to show anything but quiet pride when
escorting Nanny Ainslee, Barney straightene