ild away from home, every Christmas. The brown leaves and
burrs were so lovely, mother cut one of the finest branches she could
select and hung it above the steel engraving of "Lincoln Freeing the
Slaves," in the boys' room, and nothing in the house was looked at
oftener, or thought prettier. That must have been what was in the back
of Laddie's head when he wanted a branch for the Princess.

Mother came in with the cake and jelly in a little fancy basket, and
Laddie said: "Thank you! Now every one wish me luck! I'm going to
ride to Pryors', knock at the door, and present these offerings with my
compliments. If I'm invited in, I'm going to make the effort of my
life at driving the entering wedge toward social intercourse between
Pryors and their neighbours. If I'm not, I'll be back in thirty
minutes and tell you what happened to me. If they refuse my gifts, you
shall have the jelly, Sarah; I'll give Mrs. Fall the olive branch,
bring back the paper, and eat the cake to console my wounded spirits."

Of course every one laughed; they couldn't help it. I watched father
and he laughed hardest of the men, but mother was more stiff-lipped
about it; she couldn't help a little, though. And I noticed some of
those women acted as if they had lost something. Maybe it was a chance
to gossip about Laddie, for he hadn't left them a thing to guess at,
and mother says the reason gossip is so dreadful is because it is
always GUESSWORK. Well, that was all fair and plain. He had told
those people, our very best friends, what he thought about everything,
the way they acted included. He was carrying something to each member
of the Pryor family, and he'd left a way to return joking and
unashamed, if they wouldn't let him in. He had fixed things so no one
had anything to guess at, and it would look much worse for the Pryors
than it would for him, if he did come back.

I wondered if he had been born that smart, or if he learned it in
college. If he did, no wonder Leon was bound to go. Come to think of
it, though, mother said Laddie was always like that. She said he never
bit her when he nursed; he never mauled her as if she couldn't be hurt
when he was little, he never tore his clothes and made extra work as he
grew, and never in his life gave her an hour's uneasiness. But I guess
she couldn't have said that about uneasiness lately, for she couldn't
keep from looking troubled as all of us followed to the gate to see him
star