r to the Farringtons', maybe, or else to the library."

"Teddy," the doctor called; "I wish you'd come and see to Vigil. I
haven't any halter, and I sha'n't be long. Miss Hulburt wants to see me
about Phebe. Just let the reins lie loose on her back, and she'll be all
right."

"On Miss Hulburt's back?" Theodora questioned, with a giggle.

The doctor laughed, as he stepped out of the low, open buggy, handed the
lines to his daughter, and turned to speak to the teacher who stood
simpering at his side.

Within ten minutes, Theodora was heartily tired of her position as
amateur groom. Miss Hulburt, always garrulously confidential, was
pouring into the doctor's impatient ears all her theory of Phebe's
temper and training. She was absorbed in her subject, but to the others
the time crept heavily by. Allyn came around the corner of the house,
and Theodora hailed him.

"Come, Allyn; want to come and play go to ride with sister?"

With childish clumsiness Allyn clambered into the buggy. For a time, he
was content to jounce rapturously on the cushion and snap the buckle of
the reins. Then he too wearied for change.

"Make the horsey go, Teddy," he demanded.

"Oh, no, Allyn; sister mustn't. We must wait for papa."

"Make him go," Allyn persisted.

Theodora hesitated. Like the immortal Toddie, Allyn's strength lay in
his power of endless iteration. She foresaw a coming crisis in his
temper, and, moreover, his wishes coincided with her own to a remarkable
degree. Vigil was becoming uneasy, and a belated gadfly was making
continued attacks upon her sensitive skin. Why not drive down the street
and around the block, and shake off the annoying guest?

"Will you sit quite still, Allyn, if sister will drive just a little,
little way?"

Allyn smiled rapturously.

"Ess," he hissed.

Theodora gave a hasty glance at the house, as she tightened the lines.

"I know he'd think it was the best thing to do," she argued with her
conscience. "Vigil is so uneasy she wouldn't stand much longer, and this
will quiet her down. Besides, I've always been used to driving."

The gadfly went too. Vigil was fretted by standing, and she quickened
her pace. Before she quite realized the change, Theodora was being
whirled down the street at a round trot.

"Whoa!" she urged. "Whoa, Vigil! Sh-h-h!"

But Vigil refused to _sh-h-h_. She felt an unfamiliar hand on the lines,
and her sensitive mouth assured her that the hand was shaking a little.