THE DOGBERRY BUNCH. 
 
 BY 
 
 MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD. 
 
 B S T X 
 D LOTH HOP COMPANY 
 
 FHAXKI.IX AND I1AWLEY STKKKTS 
 
COPYRIGHT, iS79- 
 D.LOTHROP& COMPANY. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGB. 
 
 1. THE 'SOCIATION ^ 
 
 2. THE HOUSE THAT JACK MADE . . 19 
 
 3 . o, WHERE, O, WHERE " . . . 29 
 
 4. THE RAILROAD MUTINY . . . -43 
 
 5. "ONE BY ONE BEYOND RECALL." . 53 
 6. LOO GETS OUT OF AND BEN AND ALICE 
 
 GET INTO SOCIETY . . . .61 
 
 7. WHAT THE ELDEST DOGBERRYS DID IN 
 
 SOCIETY .75 
 
 8. IN WHICH JACK RISES AND THE TWINS 
 
 FALL 96 
 
 9. THE GATHERING OF THE CLAN . .119 
 10. WHAT THE NEIGHBORS SAID ABOUT rr . 128 
 ii. THE CATHEDRAL CHILDREN . . . 134 
 
 (v.) 
 
vi. CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAI , PAGE 
 
 12. "No HOME" 153 
 
 13. BLACK SHORT-HAND . . . .171 
 14. RED SHORT-HAND 187 
 
 15. TRIBULATION 205 
 
 16. DESPERATION 221 
 
 17. Miss GAFF AND SMALLER FRY . . 237 
 
 18. CHILDREN IN THE WOOD . . . 266 
 
 19. JlPPETY 275 
 
 20. JIPPETY (continued) 283 
 
 21. LIGHT AT LAST 298 
 
THE DOGBERRY BUNCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE 'SOCIATION. 
 
 N the state of Illinois there was 
 a two-sided village ; in that vill- 
 age there was a small frame 
 dwelling ; in that dwelling a 
 large square table ; and around 
 this table sat the Dogberry 
 Bunch. Like the family of 
 Wordsworth's little cotter, they 
 were seven 'in all. Seven live 
 and unlike but strongly-united 
 brothers and sisters, without 
 father or mother to take care of 
 them or sit with them at table. 
 
 Their parents had been dead more than a year ; 
 
 and as they got on very comfortably as they 
 
 7 
 
8 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 were, and their guardian did not know what else to 
 do with them, he let them alone. 
 
 Alice at the head of the table, and Ben at the foot, 
 were the recognized Heads of the House. Alice was 
 eighteen more than a year older than he but her 
 plump figure scarcely reached to his shoulder. 
 Being Miss Dogberry, and of age, she had come into 
 her estate which consisted in plans to get along, and 
 working as assistant teacher in the schools to help 
 the Bunch. They owned nothing but this house situ- 
 ated among shady trees, and an adjoining lot used for 
 a garden, which their well-wishers prophesied would 
 sell for a pretty price by and by. I could not enum- 
 erate the sad and hard-working years which the el- 
 der Dogberrys spent in saving even this inheritance 
 for their children, out of sickness and hardship. But 
 with the little house they left their Bunch a feeling of 
 true independence. Accustomed to work and to 
 obey their elders, they now worked on, obedient to 
 what they had been taught. Ben, a large fine boy, 
 with a ruddy face and deep-set eyes, was learning to 
 be a carpenter. Jack, ugly but charming, and full of 
 resources, was messenger-boy in the railroad depot 
 and general gardener and repairer at home. Lucy 
 was house-keeper and Maude her assistant. Rheem, 
 when he and this latter and favorite sister were not 
 
The 'Satiation. 
 
 at school found ''jobs " to do which enriched him 
 and helped him maintain an honorable place in the 
 Bunch's Association. Arthur, the milk white, big- 
 browed, three-year-old baby, was the only one of the 
 family who had not stated duties. 
 
 Around this square table I mentioned, the Bunch 
 were disposed according to their likes. Although a 
 firm Bunch, they hung in twos. Maude, colorless, 
 with long fair hair and black-lashed eyes, of course 
 sat close by her twin, Rheem, who had more color 
 and more size ; they answered to the names of 
 Rome and Remus. Ben and Alice were " Ben Bolt " 
 and " Sweet Alice ;" and Jack and Arthur were uneven 
 sized mates. Lucy alone went companionless ; but 
 
 as she was the house- 
 mother they all be- 
 longed to her j be- 
 sides she was so tall 
 the Bunch said she 
 would do for two any- 
 way. She was indeed 
 the young giraffe of 
 the flock, Benjamin 
 being obliged to 
 stretch after his inches 
 to keep her down. 
 They ate their supper with great relish : it was a 
 
 " SWEET ALICE." 
 
10 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 comfortable supper of bread and milk, apple-sauce 
 and gingerbread, and, the season being early June, 
 a heaping saucer of strawberries flanked each young 
 Dogberry's plate, from the strawberry vines in their 
 garden. 
 
 " Wouldn't it be nice," exclaimed Jack, who appro- 
 piately first breaks silence in this history, being the 
 tinkler who usually led the flock, " if we'd all do as 
 children do in stories : set out to seek our fortunes ! 
 All start from this house and agree to meet in a year, 
 or several years, 
 and every fellow 
 try to bring back 
 the most ! " 
 
 "But who'd 
 keep house while 
 we were gone ? " 
 inquired Maude. 
 
 "O, the house 
 could keep itself 
 like i t always 
 does ! " 
 
 " I guess Loo doesn't find that to be the case," 
 remarked Ben, smiling on the housekeeper. 
 
 " Jack always thinks the bread makes itself, and 
 his clothes get clean only with his wearing them " 
 
 ROMK AND RHEEM.' 
 
The ' Sociation. n 
 
 " O, I'm not denying you're useful, Lucephus," 
 cried gay Jack, " you're good for a well-rope, and 
 you'd make a first-rate step-ladder ; and if you only 
 would take your stand in the garden and stay there 
 I'd never have to cut a bean-pole." 
 
 " I don't think such remarks sound very well, ad- 
 dressed to your sister," came the soft contralto of 
 Alice the teacher, who far from being the young lady 
 which a city girl at her age would appear, was only a 
 plump, fair child like the others, but with more grav- 
 ity, and with longer dresses than Lucy's. Country 
 girls mature slowly. 
 
 At this instant Rheem started up, exploding the 
 question : 
 
 " How much money has the 'Sociation, now, Treas- 
 urer ? " Upon this, all the seven faces including 
 Arthur's he always imitating his brothers and sis- 
 ters put on a serious look, and the seven voices 
 inquired cautiously as became the voices of stock- 
 holders : 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because, if we've got much as six dollars and a 
 half we can buy the nicest pig of Mr. Smith and fat 
 him for winter 1 " 
 
 " We need a pig," admitted Ben, in meditation. 
 
 "The prettiest little fellow," pleaded Rheem; 
 
12 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " and I'll take care of him, and Jack will make a pen* 
 if he is as smart as he is at fixing up some other 
 things " 
 
 Here Jack winked pleadingly and shook his head 
 at Remus. 
 
 " But isn't it against our rules," said Lucy, " to spend 
 the Association money on things for our use ? I 
 thought it was to start a a " 
 
 "A fund," said Ben. 
 
 " Well, Rome is secretary," cried Jack. " Better 
 get the papers and see." 
 
 Maude ran accordingly to the candle-box in which 
 her valuables were stored, and returned with a fistfull 
 of paper bits. As she turned these records over, a 
 desire arose from the family to thoroughly review 
 their Association ; so at their request she read the 
 following Constitution and By-laws : 
 
 THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 We want to Club together to save money because 
 we are orphans and got to look out for ourselves. 
 And we do not want to be separated. Each one 
 must put in what he can, and vote what will be done 
 with it. 
 
 BY-LAWS. 
 
 i st. None of this money can be drawn out tc 
 spend for candy. 
 
The ' Sodation. ij 
 
 2nd. If four of the Association agree to any invest- 
 ment, the rest will have to give up. 
 
 3rd. Every month we will take ten cents out of our 
 fund to give to the Lord. 
 
 4th. No member can draw the Association money 
 unless all the others are agreed. 
 
 6th. It shall be invested in the best ways we can 
 find out. 
 
 Signed : 
 
 BENJAMIN DOGBERR Y, 
 ALICE DOGBERRY, 
 JACK DOGBERRY, 
 LUCY DOGBERR Y, 
 RHEEM DOGBERRY, 
 MAUDE DOGBERRY, 
 
 his 
 
 ARTHUR jxj DOGBERRY 
 
 mark 
 
 Maude, Secretary. 
 
 "Now, there's nothing said in these documents 
 about pigs," said Jack. 
 
 " But there's nothing said against them ! " cried 
 Remus warmly. 
 
 " It says," repeated Maude in support of her fa- 
 vorite brother, " if four agree to any investment, the 
 rest will have to give up. You made that by-law 
 yourself, Mr. Jack ! " 
 
f 
 
 14 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " But," objected Alice, " it wouldn't be a real 
 investment to buy something we were going to eat up. 
 We intended the Association to save for us." 
 
 " Well, let us vote," suggested Ben, amicably, " I'm 
 president. All in favor of putting the Association 
 money in a pig to fat and kill, hold up the hand ! " 
 
 Perhaps this was not a fair way to put the question, 
 and influence the voters. Remus looked aggrieved as 
 he thrust up both hands, that nobody but his twin 
 seconded him. 
 
 "Well," resumed the president: "now all in favor 
 of not investing in pig, hold up the hand ! " 
 
 All the other hands went up, including Arthur's 
 and his milk-cup in it, trickling copiously on his head 
 as it descended. 
 
 "Now, treasurer," cried Jack, "count up our cash 
 and let us see how much we saved out of that pork- 
 speculation." 
 
 Lucy went to her candle-box, at this suggestion, 
 and bringing out a tin-case, laid the wealth of the 
 Association before them. In scrip and pennies and 
 half dimes they piled it up, counting over each other's 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Two dollars ! " cried Jack with emphasis, " and 
 twenty -five and twenty-five are fifty " 
 
 "Three dollars," said Ben 
 
The ' Satiation. 15 
 
 " And ten and ten and fifteen are thirty-five " 
 
 " Just three dollars and seventy-five cents," decided 
 Alice, rising from counting and beginning to clear 
 away the dishes. 
 
 The Association looked around at itself rathei 
 sheepishly. 
 
 " Humph ! you couldn't 'a bought that pig if you'd 
 wanted to ! " sneered Remus, the discomfitted fur- 
 nisher of " points," with returning triumph. 
 
 " Three dollars wouldn't buy a six dollar pig ! " 
 added his twin, to strengthen his position. 
 
 " Well, we don't want a pig just yet, anyhow," 
 laughed paternal Ben. " We'll wait awhile and get 
 one some other way." 
 
 " I should like to inquire," said Jack, rising, as the 
 treasurer with her Treasure and the secretary with 
 her scrawled Constitution both disappeared to place 
 their charges again in safety, " if this was a regular 
 meeting? I was going to call a meeting of the Asso- 
 ciation to-night, and ask you all to my house ! " 
 
 " You can't call a meeting : you aren't President." 
 
 "But I'm Vice. And the Vice-president has as 
 much authority as the President in ^^/-Association !" 
 
 " Where is your house, Jack ? " inquired Lucy, help- 
 ing to whisk away the remains of the suppei 
 
 " I want you all to come and see," cried Jack 
 
1 6 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Arty knows. Don't you tell, Arty ! I've got it all fur- 
 nished and finished, and I'm going to begin house- 
 keeping there right off." 
 
 Jack's eagerness having a strong effect upon the 
 Bunch, it was not long before the girls had their sup- 
 per-work done, and the house so tidy that any stray 
 neighbor who might peep in would have to admit that 
 the Dogberry children did not get on so badly ! Then 
 they all ran out at Jack's heels, Arthur dragging only 
 a step behind him, Rome and Remus with arms inter- 
 laced, " hippity-hopping," Lucy undulating like a 
 young sapling tossed by a merry wind, and only Ben 
 and Alice pretending to saunter, and they sauntered 
 eagerly ! 
 
 I said it was a two-sided village they lived in : it 
 was actually known as Old Town 'and New Town ; 
 the Old Town having been a pulseless collection of 
 twenty houses until a railroad, like a great artery 
 brought it hew blood. Then every enterprising citi- 
 zen dragged his house to, or built a new one beside, 
 the railroad ; strangers came to live there also, thus 
 forming a modern village where all the business and 
 most of the living was done. But there were poor 
 people and old settled residents who preferred to 
 make no change, and still remained on the one old 
 street : this side of the village was therefore called 
 
The \Sodation. 17 
 
 Old Town, and in spite of the three or four pretty 
 houses on it was a sad array of tumble-in roofs and 
 shaky dwellings. 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch lived in New Town, on the 
 eastern side of the railway. Jack led them over the 
 shady lawn which Nature had planted so plentifully 
 with trees, and the girls with mounds of verbenas 
 pansies and all the flowers which give one the dear 
 delight of digging loam in spring-time and wearing 
 bloom in summer-time. On one side of the lawn 
 was a croquet set which perhaps remains to this day 
 a monument of Dogberry ingenuity. The mallets 
 and balls Jack turned himself, and he and Ben set 
 up for wickets piece's of iron hoops off old tubs. As 
 a Bunch they were invincibly fond of croquet, and 
 being forbidden by their circumstances and Guardian 
 to spend money on the game, they had to achieve it 
 some other way, and Rome finally sewed little tri- 
 umphant red-white-and-blue flags to stick on the tops 
 of the painted stakes. On, this victorious field their 
 voices might be heard nearly every summer evening; 
 but Jack now led them past it and down through the 
 gate upon the bank beside the railroad. 
 
 " We don't want to go to the station, Jack," cried 
 Alice hesitating, as the troop filed along. 
 
 " Tisn't at the station," declared Jack. 
 
1 8 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " As like as anyway," observed Lucy with some 
 suspicion, "he's playing a trick on us as he did on 
 me one day. He told me if I'd run down here I'd 
 see a Cardiff giantess on one of the gravel-flats, and 
 he helped me on the car, and when I couldn't see 
 anything but sand, he says, * Why, here you are ! 
 Look at yourself ! 'A Cardiff giantess ! ' " sniffed Lucy. 
 
 " 'Deed I ain't playing any trick ! " pleaded Jack, 
 laughing. " Remus has seen my house. It's only a 
 little further right down there." 
 
 " Like the Air-Castle in our yard ? " inquired 
 Maude. " Have you any steps to go up into it ? " 
 
 " Yes, it has steps, but it isn't a tree." And div- 
 ing down the railroad bank, Jack cried : " Walk in 
 ladies and gentlemen of the Dogberry 'Sociation ! This 
 is the House that Jack made ! " 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HOUSE THAT JACK MADE, AND THE FIRST 
 DOINGS IN IT. 
 
 JACK'S house was a caboose which had stood un- 
 used upon a side-track for some weeks. An old 
 brick-red affair, with windows at the sides and a door 
 at each end, boarded gaily and coolly, with blue in- 
 side. This thin coat of blue paint Jack had put on 
 himself, from a paint pot in the station. The indulg- 
 ent station-master, seeing the boy always active, let 
 him amuse himself as he would in the intervals be- 
 tween business. And the result was that Jack 
 applied himself to building a pleasure resort as other 
 
2O The Dogberry Bun;h. 
 
 men, oppressed by cares, apply themselves to creating 
 yachts, and country retreats and fancy gardens. The 
 sky-color extended over the floor also, and the walls 
 were relieved with heavily framed pictures of scenes 
 on different railway routes, exquisite prints of the 
 superior inducements one route offered above others, 
 and such other works of art as the young connois- 
 seur could get from the waiting-room in the depot. 
 That day he had also found time to make ropes of 
 leaves by fastening them together with pins of their 
 own stems, and these gala garlands hung in festoons 
 all around the car. Jack had a sofa, made on a sort 
 of locker, of two old cushions which used to belong 
 to his father's buggy. Several chairs borrowed from 
 the station stood along the walls, and the whole 
 place was in such up-and-down order as only bach- 
 elors admire. Jack helped his visitors up the rear 
 steps of his palace, and hustled them in with great 
 excitement. 
 
 " See, I can put these shutters to," he cried, " and 
 darken the room. There's a lamp in this box, and 
 there's the hook on the ceiling to swing it to ! Allie, 
 I want you to make me some white curtains, like we 
 have at our windows. When it grows cold, maybe I 
 can put a stove up in here," soared Jack. 
 
 " Well, what a boy ! " commented Allie's low con- 
 tralto. 
 
The House That Jack Made. 21 
 
 "This is* quite a fine place," said Ben, "but if I'd 
 go and set up in the Air-Castle now, and the girls 
 and Rheem'd build shingle houses out among the 
 trees, what would the house and the Bunch come to ?" 
 
 Rome and Remus were in ecstacies with it, and 
 begged Jack to let them play there every afternoon. 
 Arthur gallopped up and down until the caboose 
 shook, and then took up his station on a chair by one 
 of the high windows to watch the depot, that haunt 
 of locomotives which were the delight of his young 
 soul. 
 
 " But what if a train should carry this off ? " ex- 
 claimed Lucy. 
 
 " No danger," replied the master of the house that 
 Jack made. "Mr. Joyce says it isn't needed. It 
 won't be moved for a long while." 
 
 They all sat down and tried to fancy themselves 
 going on a long journey in the caboose. " To Cali- 
 fornia," suggested Jack, " and each of us owning a 
 cam in a big gold mine." 
 
 " To some place in the mountains," said Lucy, 
 " where the scenery would be lovely. And oh ! I 
 wish we could see the ocean ! " 
 
 Ben expressed his preference for a city, while Alice 
 desired a country continually flowering and maturing 
 into fruit. Arthur, after listening to the others with 
 wide-spread eyes, did not find his affections weaned 
 
22 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 from an imaginary place which he called " Hiddley- 
 Giddle ;" he was fond of telling strange tales every 
 day about what he did in this place with two dream- 
 play-mates to whom he gave the not very musical 
 names of " Deedle " and " Sipsey." Deedle and Sipsey 
 were anything he wanted them to be. They were boys 
 or girls, or old men or dogs. If he disobeyed his elders 
 it was because naughty Deedle or Sipsey " teased him 
 to." They alwavs lived in Hiddley-Giddle, and their 
 unseen coming and going and his remarkable conver- 
 sations with them amused the whole family who had 
 out-grown the fancied play-mates which do seem to 
 throng around an imaginative child of three years old. 
 "Let's have charades," said Rome and Remus, and 
 the suggestion was no sooner made than the family 
 divided, Ben with Alice and the baby withdrawing to, 
 sit on the railroad bank, the rest closing the shutters 
 on that side the caboose and setting to work upon a 
 44 scene." One or two flying trips were made to the 
 house for accoutrements, and then the audience was 
 called up on the platform to see "a charade of 
 two syllables and two scenes ; " and the caboose door, 
 thrown open disclosed 
 
 SCENE FIRST, 
 
 which was evidently a picture of William Tell. 
 Rheem, with several cushions piled under him, made 
 
77*? House That Jack Made. 23 
 
 a brave little Gessler, and Loo beside him, with a 
 broomstick held erect, a most formidable guard. 
 
 "Bring in the prisoner ! " commanded Gessler, dim- 
 pling in spite of his ferocious character. The guard, 
 Lucy, at once opened the box and produced Jack, 
 who gritted his teeth, rolled his eyes, and in several 
 other ways testified his dislike to the little tyrant. 
 
 "What's your name, Tell? " inquired Gessler. 
 
 "Tell yourself ! " responded the prisoner. 
 
 " I told you to tell ! " 
 
 "Well, then, Tell." 
 
 " Guard, give the prisoner a knock." 
 
 Guard knocked the prisoner, who howled like a 
 school-boy, and pranced with great agility. This 
 supple use of his person evidently reminded the ty- 
 rant of something which he immediately stated. 
 
 " I hear that you are very skillful in using the bow ! 
 I want to see you shoot an apple on your boy's head." 
 
 " I don't see his head," objected Tell. 
 
 "Guard, bring the boy and the apple." 
 
 Maude was brought from behind a chair, placed in 
 position for supporting the apple, which was only the 
 hollow gourd used for dipping water in the kitchen. 
 This fruit being put upon her head, Tell without 
 more ado produced a pea-shooter and peppered it 
 heartily until the tyrant expressed himself satisfied, 
 and the door closed. 
 
2 4 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " It's * tell ' something," commented Ben. But pres- 
 ently the 
 
 SECOND SCENE 
 
 was uncurtained, and it seemed to be a version of 
 "Lady Godiva." 
 
 Jack, with a bedquilt around him to represent lordly 
 
 robes, a tall black hat 
 on his head, the 
 broom-stick in his 
 hand, and a hatchet 
 hanging from his belt, 
 stalked about frown- 
 ing, and after him 
 came Lady Godiva in 
 her sister Alice's 
 longest dress and a 
 shawl trailing from 
 her shoulders. 
 
 After the pair prom- 
 enaded the oppressed 
 populace of Coven- 
 try, represented by 
 Rheem in a pair of his big brother's which reached 
 above his knees and holding a pillow-case and a 
 towel to his eyes, and Maude weeping under a para- 
 sol. 
 
 MR. AND MRS. GODIVA. 
 
The House That Jack Made. 25 
 
 " Mr. Godiva," pleaded my lady, "please don't tax 
 these poor people so." 
 
 " I will tax them all I please ! " cried Mr. Go- 
 diva, brandishing his broomstick. 
 
 " See how they cry ! " 
 
 " Well, let them cry ! It's healthy ! " 
 
 Here the oppressed populace howled. 
 
 " O, Mr. Godiva," cried my lady, " if you will 
 promise not to tax the poor people so, I will get on a 
 horse and ride clear through town ! " 
 
 This proposition struck Mr. Godiva very favorably, 
 and he grasped a chair to be used as my lady's steed. 
 "Go ahead I'll promise," said he. 
 
 Mr. Godiva then turned and spoke to the populace. 
 
 " Now, all of you hide your eyes and don't look at 
 me, and you won't have to pay any taxes ! " 
 
 The populace instantly retired to a corner and 
 stuck their heads under a cushion, while Lady Godiva 
 mounted her chair; and her lord divested himself of 
 bedquilt and hatchet, and mounted another chair to 
 stare her out of countenance in the character of 
 Peeping Tom. By the time the lady had galloped 
 the length of the caboose, the populace, by peeping 
 themselves, had become aware of his staring, and 
 the descent they made on him again closed the door. 
 
 " Cry ? Tax ? What is it ? " asked Alice of Ben 
 " Dear me ! We mustn't let them be so noisy ! All 
 
26 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 the people in town will be coming to see what is the 
 matter ! " 
 
 Half a dozen boys, who were happy and ragged in 
 their Saturday's release from school, and ready to in- 
 terest themselves in whatever might turn up, were 
 pressing up to the rear of the caboose ; and resting 
 their chins on the platform they saw the charade's 
 final 
 
 TABLEAU. 
 
 A peculiar kind of sheep meandered out from 
 some hiding-place in the caboose, with a buffalo robe 
 tied around him and Jack's head appearing at one 
 end ; and after it came a smaller sheep in plaid shawl 
 fleece and two paper horns over its bright eyes ; and 
 still another sheep, all white, with long blonde hair 
 hanging over dark eye-lashes. It is impossible to tell 
 alt the pranks these sheep played. Their idea of a 
 tableau was very animated ! They bleated and ran 
 at each other; they skipped, and came down in a 
 stiff-legged jump which was side-splitting. Over their 
 pasture-fence of chairs they went with perfect disre- 
 gard of their shins, the small sheep always following 
 where the large one led. Great tableau, this ! 
 
 At last, head down, and still frisking with the stiff- 
 legged jump, they disappeared ; and at once a dis- 
 
The House That Jack Made.' 27 
 
 tracted little shepherdess appeared, her short dress 
 tucked up, her hat pushed back, and the broomstick 
 again brought into play as her crook. The word was 
 without doubt " Bo-Peep ! " Wilhelm Tell's " bow " 
 (which seemed unfair as he used a pea-shooter) and 
 Tom's " peep " made the charade. 
 
 The town ragamuffins applauded so heartily, and 
 were so eager to introduce themselves into the 
 caboose, that they soon excluded Jack's first guests. 
 It was growing dusk, and a breathless heat stifled the 
 landscape. 
 
 "We shall have a storm to-night, I believe," said 
 one of the Bunch, as they all, excepting Jack, strolled 
 back to the house. 
 
 He came later, while they sat in the Air-Castle and 
 on the stoop, to tell them he meant to sleep in his 
 own house that night ! 
 
 " You better come home, dear," said Alice, who, 
 high in the old tree where a seat was fixed, called by 
 the children their "Air-Castle," could see heat-light- 
 nings play and a dark hood of cloud drawing up 
 from the west. " It's going to storm to-night." 
 
 Well, if it stormed cats and dogs, Jack would be 
 as snug in the caboose as in his bed at home ! 
 
 So he went back and secured his windows on the 
 west, leaving only one on the east and a ventilator 
 
28 
 
 The Dogberry B^lncn. 
 
 ajar for air ; and the rest of the Bunch went in and 
 shut up their house. In the midnight some of them 
 were awakened by blinding light and by the groans 
 of trees, and spouts of rain beating as if to wash 
 their little dwelling into some universal ocean. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 "O, WHERE, O, WHERE " 
 
 WHEN Benjamin arose in the morning and 
 made the fire in the little back summer 
 kitchen to heat the kettle for breakfast, he looked 
 out on one of the most beautiful and burnished Sun- 
 day mornings this world has ever seen. The air was 
 clear enough to make fairy spectacles of ; the very 
 grass blades were strings of brilliants of the first 
 water; the roads were beaten out as firm and clean as 
 granite. 
 
 One by one the Dogberrys appeared, each looking 
 
 29 
 
30 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 as live and burnished as if just out of a storm-bath, 
 also. Excepting Jack, who did not come. The table 
 was laid, and they all sat down on their chairs in a 
 great circle, and sang one of Philip Phillips' songs 
 about the " Home of the Soul," their souls fairly 
 dancing on the music because they were such a com- 
 fortable Bunch. Then all their knees plumped down 
 on the floor at once, and they said the Lord's Prayer 
 as one man, Rome and Remus kneeling opposite 
 each other at the same chair, and almost knocking 
 noses with fervor, their eyes being shut. They rose 
 up and the Treasurer of the 'Sociation, according to 
 Sunday morning custom, brought pennies from the 
 fund and laid them on the table ready for Arthur, or 
 whoever took his turn that day, to carry to Sunday- 
 school. 
 
 Still Jack did not come. 
 
 u I b'lieve he's going to sleep all day," cried 
 Rheem. 
 
 "Maybe something's happened!" cried Rome, 
 spreading her black eye-lashes. 
 
 " Run and call him," said Alice. 
 
 "And tell him to hurry," added Loo, the house- 
 keeper. "We sha'n't have much time to get the 
 work clone before Sunday-school." 
 
 You may picture to your mind's eye this Hunch 
 
"O, Where, O, Where" 31 
 
 starting to Sunday-school in the respectable ways they 
 had been trained to : all in pairs, or threes, or a group, 
 all jolly, and somewhat proper in their good clothes, 
 the mothers of the village looking, after them with 
 pride, and the fathers nodding smilingly. 
 
 " I wonder if our young ones would get along as 
 well," says Mother Thomas, a large, generous woman, 
 to her husband, a wizened, gray, ailing man, " if we 
 had to leave 'em ? " 
 
 "I don't know," he groans, "if they had my health 
 all the time, they couldn't do much." 
 
 " Good-morning, little Bunch," says Mother Darling, 
 the doctor's wife, a smiling, black-eyed woman, rust- 
 ling past them with her last baby all dressed in white. 
 " L have a nice big mess of peas for your dinner if 
 some of you will come over and get it directly after 
 Sunday-school." 
 
 " Them young ones does beat all ! " says big John 
 White, whittling a fence-rail and talking stock with a 
 brother stock-shipper, but never failing to laugh a 
 sort of benediction on the Bunch as they go by. 
 
 In this way the neighbors in the village take kindly 
 notice of them. But to-day different ejaculations 
 will be heard, for the Dogberry Bunch is broken and 
 a Berry has dropped out. 
 
 Rome and Remus came running from their errand 
 
32 TJu Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 of calling Jack, like two young hens. Now Rheem 
 fell down and Rome tumbled over him, and as soon 
 as she gained her feet, her twin made a dash and 
 tumbled over her. But neither of them heeded these 
 mishaps. Sprawled on the floor, they both gasped 
 out to the astonished family : 
 
 " Jack's gone!" 
 
 " Gone where ? " in chorus. 
 
 "Don't know ! He ain't there ! " 
 
 " Did you look in the caboose ? " 
 
 " THE CABOOSE is GONE ! " 
 
 All Dogberry-dom now stood up, and let the break- 
 fast alone, excepting Arthur who was in his high- 
 chair, and who required a good reason for leaving it. 
 
 " Why, where is the caboose ? " asked bewildered 
 Ben. 
 
 " Maybe the lightnin' struck it ! " " Maybe it's 
 burnt up ! " from the twins. 
 
 " It's been taken off somewhere by trains in the 
 night ! " exclaimed convinced Lucy. " I just told 
 him so ! " 
 
 " Where's Jack ? " cried Alice. 
 
 That was the question where was Jack ? 
 
 ' Just as like as not they've poured a whole lot of 
 grain or hogs in on him and smothered him ! " 
 said Rome beginning to brim with tears. 
 
"O, Where, O, Where, " 
 
 33 
 
 " Especially the hogs," observed Ben, " which 
 would certainly smother if poured very fast ! " 
 " I don't think it's funny a bit ! " cried Rome. 
 " I don't either. But they don't load cabooses. 
 
 JACK 's GONE ! 
 
 And I don't see how Jack could sleep while the cars 
 were jarring. Pshaw! maybe it isn't gone at all ! It 
 blew like anything last night. The caboose may have 
 rolled farther down the track." 
 
 They all ran to see. Up and down the rails with 
 
34 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 their hands shielding their eyes from the morning 
 sun, they looked and scampered. Some disabled old 
 coal-flats and one box car lay on the switch. These, 
 and nothing more. 
 
 Ben ran to Mr. Joyce, the station-master, and the 
 rest of the Bunch, not knowing what else to do, ran 
 after him. Mr. Joyce had been kept up late, and 
 their loud raps at his door lasted some time before 
 he appeared. He was a pleasant-faced man and 
 laughed when he saw how he was besieged. 
 
 "Why, what's the matter?" 
 
 " Where's Jack, Mr. Joyce ? " 
 
 " Home, isn't he ? " 
 
 " No, sir. He slept in that caboose he fixed up for 
 his house, last night " 
 
 "And it's gone! " howled Maude. 
 
 Arthur by this time began to understand the ca- 
 lamity which had befallen his house, and having 
 missed his favorite all the morning, now puckered up 
 his face and set up a yell which brought the whole 
 street to the doors. 
 
 Mr. Joyce seized his station key and hurried to the 
 little freight-house and depot. He searched every- 
 where and looked puzzled. He looked up and down 
 the track, but the red caboose was gone. 
 
 " Well, upon my word ! " he exclaimed, while a 
 
"O Where, O, Where" 35 
 
 more doleful note came from the depressed Bunch. 
 
 " Hush, Arty I " soothed Alice, " Jacky isn't hurt." 
 
 " Why, no," cried Joyce, " but I don't see how it 
 happened ! There was a fearful storm when that last 
 freight was making up. They had a lot of empty 
 box cars to take up here. The caboose must have 
 got run in among them. It was a through freight for 
 Cincinnati. I'll inquire along the road." 
 
 He went to the instrument, and while it clicked the 
 disconsolate Dogberry Bunch hearkened and thought 
 of their absent Berry. 
 
 " You better go home, and don't be frightened," 
 said Mr. Joyce. " It'll be sometime before I get an 
 answer. I'll let you know where he is as soon as I 
 find out, and I'll have them search Number 5. If 
 it made a good run, it'll be in Cincinnati this after- 
 noon. Don't you be scared, Jack can take care of 
 himself. I'll send a message to the depot-master of 
 the C. H. & D. road, and he'll look after Jack when 
 he gets there." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Joyce," said Sweet Alice sol- 
 emnly, turning the head of the party homeward, and 
 leading Arthur by the hand. 
 
 " Where's Jack ? " cried the poor little fellow con- 
 tinually. " I want him. I want my Jack ! " 
 
 And everybody failing to produce his favorite, he 
 
36 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 sat down on the road and beat the rails with all the 
 might of his little heels, the angry blood flushing 
 even his head till it glowed like a turkey's through his 
 hair. 
 
 ** Get up, Arty," begged Loo, tremulously. "Brother 
 will come back pretty soon." 
 
 " I want him now ! " howled the baby. 
 
 "Let's go and hunt Jacky," volunteered Maude. 
 
 " Where ? " yielded the youngster, allowing him- 
 self to be stood up, and his petticoats to be brushed. 
 " Will we go on train ? where's big engine ? where we 
 hunt Jack, Romey ?" 
 
 ' O, pshaw ! Jack's all right," said Ben easily, as 
 they trooped under the trees and re-entered their 
 dwelling. 
 
 And beginning to see the whole affair in the light 
 of a joke, the family at this point broke out laughing, 
 and sat down gaily to breakfast ; still, with the excep- 
 tion of the little brother in skirts, who asked at in- 
 tervals, " Where Jacky gone ? where him gone ? " 
 
 "Gone off with Deedle and Sipsey," replied 
 Rheem, bantering the baby, "gone to Hiddley-Gid- 
 clle." 
 
 " What's this ? " cried Mother Darling, the doctor's 
 wife, running in with the baby half-dressed, its dim- 
 ples huddled in a shawl ; " they say Jack got carried 
 off by a freight train last night. Is it so ? " 
 
O, Where, O, Where " 
 
 37 
 
 "Yes'm," replied the Bunch, laughing; and Ben 
 rose to place a chair foi the little mother. 
 
 " What's happened to you young ones ?" exclaimed 
 
 brawny Mother Thomas, sailing in with her portly 
 
 air. 
 
 The story was told over again, and the mothers also 
 
38 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 reassured them as Mr. Joyce had done. They held 
 quite a levee, their neighbors ran in and out so, until 
 the small bell of the small white church rang for Sab- 
 bath-school. Mr. Joyce sent a message that he could 
 find out nothing certain about Jack, but everything 
 was certainly going well with Number 5, or he would 
 hear it over the wires. 
 
 The Bunch was broken for the day. They went 
 straggling. 
 
 " Where's Arthur ? " inquired Alice, shaking out 
 her parasol as she and Loo started. 
 
 " Gone with Rome and Rheem, I think." 
 
 Rome and Rheem were walking primly along talk- 
 ing of the great event which had disturbed the nine- 
 teenth century that day. Maude's finery consisted 
 principally of a lilac silk mantilla which had belonged 
 to her mother. Her eyes expanded like two head- 
 lights over her Sunday gear, when the question of 
 Arthur's whereabouts was put. 
 
 " Why, didn't Mrs. Darling take him when she 
 came along with the baby? Oh, maybe he's lost 
 too ! " 
 
 The idea ! But he was not in the little white- 
 washed church, where the village children were sing- 
 ing joyfully through their noses. Mother Darling, 
 when whispered to, did not know anything about 
 him. Ben, being summoned from the "Youth's 
 
"O, Where, O, Where" 39 
 
 Bible Class," ran to every house in search of him. 
 
 Then the town was roused. 
 
 It was funny for a live, big boy like Jack to be car- 
 ried off in the night : people could grin at such a 
 mishap ; but when the three-year-old of the town's 
 prize orphans disappeared as suddenly as if dropped 
 in a pit, the Bunch's bereavement looked startling. 
 Several fathers went to work dragging their cis- 
 terns : a group went to examine Sugar Creek. 
 
 There was at one end of the street which formed 
 Old Town a tottering shell which once served as a 
 tavern ; but being forsaken by every respectable 
 creature in the place, was now the haunt of all sorts 
 of wretches. More than a dozen families crowded 
 it. It was fit to compare with city tenements ; and 
 this swarming den was known as the "Beehive." 
 Tramps passing through the town, made this their 
 stopping-place. A stoop composed of rotting boards 
 was in front of it, and a different colored rag ap- 
 peared at every window, from which nearly all sash 
 and glass were broken. 
 
 John White hurried to the " Beehive " to ask them 
 about little Arthur. The Bees, although their neigh- 
 bors took so little interest in them, felt a lazy interest 
 in their neighbors, and were generally peeping out of 
 the Beehive or buzzing on the stoop, to see what 
 
40 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 might be going on in the town. To-day being Sun- 
 day and no trains running, they were out in strong 
 force, smoking, and blinking their cadaverous eyes 
 gaunt, nerveless-looking men, dirty and only half 
 alive. Women's voices, scolding, made the inside of 
 the " Beehive " ring. Some playful young Bees 
 played marbles and pulled hair at one end of the 
 stoop. 
 
 " How d'ye do," said easy John White to the men 
 who pulled out their pipes and listened with calm pat- 
 ronage to their wealthier neighbor. " Have you seen 
 anything of a little fellow around here ? The Dog- 
 berry children have lost their baby about faree 
 years old chap in petticoats." 
 
 "When did they lose him ? " inquired 
 one of the Bees with a slow drawl : they were above 
 excitement. 
 
 " Missed him a couple of hours or so ago, but 
 don't remember seeing him since breakfast. One of 
 them dressed him for Sunday-school before break- 
 fast; and then one of the .boys got run off on a 
 freight, and it excited them so they forgot about the 
 little fellow." 
 
 The Bees pulled their pipes silently, as if they had 
 all found first-rate honey-tubes. 
 
 " He had on a little linen dress," continued John ; 
 
"O, Where, O, Where" 41 
 
 1 thinnish child ; blue eyes, light : I expect you know 
 him. I'm afraid he's found the creek! You haven't 
 seen anything of him ? " 
 
 "Saw a little young one," volunteered one 
 deliberate drone, " go past with a woman 
 's morning. Didn't stop here." 
 
 " / saw him," added another Bee. " Thought 
 
 she was playin' with him. Movers over 
 
 in the woods last night." 
 
 "Light child linen dress?" asked John White. 
 
 " Ye es," drawled the Bee. 
 
 " The Dogberry baby, do you think ? " 
 
 I thought it was him." 
 
 John White made haste to carry this news, and 
 several men got upon horses and galloped in the di- 
 rection the movers' caravan was said to have taken. 
 As he supposed, the strollers were only agueish In- 
 dianians trailing away to some point farther west. 
 Their wagon was covered with canvass stretched on 
 hoops, and drawn by horses paired like David and 
 Goliah, fearfully thin, and Goliah wheezing as if every 
 breath must be his last. Inside the wagon cowered 
 the usual hollow-cheeked settler, his care-worn wife 
 and fifteen children, in various stages of chills-and- 
 fever. It was too great a satire to suppose such a 
 man had picked up the missing boy, but the men in- 
 
42 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 quired if he had seen a stray child. The settler had 
 not seen any stray child. His wife, kind soul, was 
 full of sympathy when she heard a child was lost, 
 and counted her fifteen over with a more thankful 
 heart. 
 
 They hunted New Town and Old Town, they 
 dragged the creek above and below the dam, they 
 searched the woods : the long summer afternoon wore 
 away and night came, and still little Arthur Dogberry 
 was not found. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE RAILROAD MUTINY. 
 
 WHEN Jack awoke in the caboose, he was aston- 
 ished by a roaring and rumbling and also by 
 the motion which shook him to and fro. He had heard 
 the storm in the night, but this was not the sound of 
 a storm. His bristling hair fairly stood on end as he 
 recognized the grinding whirr of wheels. Opening a 
 shutter, he poked his head into the dark and dodged 
 back just in time to avoid the scaffolding of a bridge 
 they were passing. 
 
 43 
 
44 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 "Yes, sir!" said Jack, sitting down to his convic- 
 tions, " this caboose has started on its travels, and has 
 invited Mr. J. Dogberry to go along. Thank you, 
 ma'am. My health was needing a little trip. I bet 
 they'll laugh at home ! Loo'll never forget it ! She'll 
 keep it to pay me back for the Cardiff giantess with ! 
 She said I'd get run off. I wonder what Arty'll do ? 
 Which way is this train going ? " 
 
 He opened the door at one end, and saw a blank 
 wall of freight running in front of him ; he opened 
 the door at the other end and made out a similar 
 sight. The landscape was lightening : he could make 
 out trees and high gravelled banks. 
 
 Jack shut the door, and sitting down by an open 
 shutter, enjoyed his trip. The explanation which Mr. 
 Joyce had given the children occurred to him : his 
 caboose was taken up among empty freight cars : 
 these would be thrown off on some switch or other 
 track, and he must watch his chances for a return 
 journey. He heartily enjoyed his adventure. 
 
 Toward morning the rattling train ran into a sad, 
 bedraggled town. The storm was left far behind, 
 and it is probable that Jack the Nimble would have 
 climbed to the tops of the freights long before and 
 made acquaintance with every man having them in 
 charge, if the novelty of his position had not kept 
 him still. 
 
Hie Railroad Mutiny. 
 
 45 
 
 There seemed to be a lock in the progress of the 
 train. Jack saw the the name " Pontiac " in large 
 black letters over the depot door. Several other 
 trains were massed on switches and tracks leading 
 to different points of the compass. Pontiac, dark 
 
 JACK. 
 
 and draggled as it appeared, was something of a rail- 
 road centre. The train stood still, but nothing was 
 loading, nothing cast off. 
 
 It was now nearly Sunday morning. " Perhaps this 
 is the end of the trip," said Jack, " but I thought our 
 
46 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Number 5 was a through freight for Cincinnati." 
 
 He stepped down into the coal dust and wandered 
 along the train. It was now that very dark hour just 
 before day-dawn : a knot of men with a lantern were 
 muttering near the engine. One, grimed but com- 
 manding, was certainly the engineer; the others 
 brakemen of this and other trains massed at Pontiac. 
 They were complaining bitterly of measures taken 
 by the Company who owned the road. As Jack heard 
 them he felt they were half in the right : their money 
 was overdue ; they were threatened with a reduction 
 of pay, and they would strike ! So far so good. 
 Young Dogberry silently endorsed all he heard. He 
 thought right was right, whether on his side or on the 
 side of the man who employed him. If a man would 
 not pay for service he ought to suffer inconvenience 
 and loss by having the service taken from him with- 
 out warning. But pretty soon some more men came 
 up, of the very worst sort. Whether they were rail- 
 road employes or vagrants, Jack could not make 
 out. They talked as if they owned the roads and 
 were masters of the roads' interests, but Jack con- 
 sidered himself a railroad employe', and he would 
 not have classed himself with these men. They had 
 a lot of oil and matches, and mentioned " firing " and 
 " breaking," and excited the others, excepting one 
 who went and sat down on the side of a platform. 
 
The Railroad Mutiny. 47 
 
 Jack followed him. 
 
 " What they going to do ? " he asked. 
 
 The brakeman replied rather indifferently that he 
 didn't know : raise the old Satan likely. 
 
 " But this freight that came down from Chicago 
 oughtn't it to go on ? " 
 
 The brakeman laughed, and said it ought to throw 
 off half the empty boxes and take on four or five 
 cars of cattle to run into Cincinnati: "but the engi- 
 neer is drunk," he added, " and they're all on a 
 strike, him at the head of them. I don't know how 
 it'll end. I don't intend to have nothing to do with 
 it if I can help it, but if I'm forced in I'll have to do 
 as the others do. All that I'm afraid of is that they 
 are going to make mischief, and destroy property. 
 The Road hasn't treated us fair. Still, burning stock 
 is dirty business." 
 
 " No, I don't like that, myself," said Jack maturely, 
 " and 1 think this train ought to be got through. It's 
 pretty near Sunday morning. We've been here over 
 an hour." 
 
 " What train do you belong to ? " inquired the 
 brakeman. 
 
 Jack explained his presence, and then added " as 
 all the rest are deserting, don't you think we could 
 get it through ourselves ? " 
 
 The train-hand laughed. 
 
ys The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 4< Well," exclaimed the boy, " I know all about an 
 engine. The engineers on our road have taken me 
 up and down. I ain't in the railroad business for 
 nothing, I tell ye ! Don't you suppose I've picked up 
 everything? " 
 
 At this moment a yell was raised by some of the 
 men in mutiny. 
 
 " I wish I was home in the city," said the brake- 
 man discontentedly. 
 
 " You just wait a bit ! " cried Jack, dashing into 
 the telegraph office. Here a sleepy young man, dis- 
 turbed and inefficient, had just finished sending over 
 the wires to headquarters an account of the disturb- 
 ances pending. 
 
 Jack seized a telegraph blank and hastened to 
 write : 
 
 " Engineer and all but one man of through freight 
 Number 5, have struck : going to be a fuss. I can 
 bring it through all right, with orders. 
 
 J. DOGBERRY." 
 
 " Who sends this message ? " inquired the operator, 
 eyeing the young man. 
 " Dogberry, sir." 
 In the midst of the impending riot which Pontiac's 
 
The Railroad Mutiny. 49 
 
 small muster of police could never quell, the operator 
 did not inquire minutely about Dogberry, but secretly 
 commending him for keeping out of sight, sent his 
 message. Before the last click, a frowsy man rushed 
 in. 
 
 " It's all up," he exclaimed, "we can't get out of 
 here unless the Company sends me another engineer, 
 and there'll be worse mischief yet before one can 
 come ! Got my orders ? " 
 
 " Have 'em in a few minutes," replied the opera- 
 tor. " Man here offered to take your train through." 
 
 From this conversation Jack understood that the 
 man was the conductor of Number 5, and he waited 
 as breathlessly as the conductor for orders. In a few 
 minutes the answer came. The conductor was or- 
 dered to put Engineer Dogberry in the cab and to 
 proceed at once. Dogberry's orders were minute. 
 The conductor seized them. 
 
 " There's his fireman over there," said the operator 
 pointing to Jack. 
 
 The conductor thrust the orders into his hand. , 
 
 " There's one brakeman I can rely on," he ex- 
 claimed, " he and I will attend to the coupling. In 
 ten minutes we want to pick up these cattle cars and 
 be out of here ! " 
 
 He ran in one direction, Jack in the other. The 
 
50 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 boy leaped into the cab, piled fuel in his furnace, and 
 made a quick examination of his locomotive. The 
 orders were very brief and plain ; he had them by 
 heart in a moment. 
 
 A few faint streaks began to appear in the east, 
 and a general light diffused itself. Jack ran his en- 
 gine and the cars attached, forward, and at a signal 
 backed upon a switch and took up the waiting stock. 
 These movements were so sudden and unexpected, 
 that he was really under way before the groups of 
 rough men saw that a train was moving out. Some 
 of them were talking of heaping the freights and set- 
 ting them on fire. The engineer who forsook Num- 
 ber 5, came leaping along beside the train, flushed 
 with anger and drink. He caught sight of the little 
 fellow in his engine cab and yelled at him. He 
 looked so furious and all the running men looked so 
 furious that J. Dogberry was roused through every 
 molecule of his blood. These men might try to throw 
 things under the wheels and so ditch the train : a 
 shot was fired, the ball splintering a panel of the cab ; 
 I only do Jack justice when I say he hardly thought 
 of the ball his mind was taken up with the results 
 of a disaster if disaster there should be. He put on 
 a full head of steam, and the empty freights and cat- 
 tle cars sailed away ! He was now accountable for 
 
The Railroad Mutiny. 51 
 
 the train he a mere boy ! when the Company 
 probably thought they were entrusting it to a man 
 and a licensed locomotive engineer. The thing he 
 had undertaken with the best but unconsidered im- 
 pulses, now looked very startling. Still, Jack knew 
 what he was about, and his iron horse in a twinkling 
 was out of Pontiac and sailing along over the open 
 country. The Road was certainly a mismanaged 
 one, but at that time discontent among the em- 
 ploye's was not general. There were no other 
 strikes on the line, and safe out of Pontiac, the men 
 having the train in charge anticipated no other 
 trouble than stoppages caused by their delay. 
 
 Morning advanced. Jack stood up to his business, 
 his determined eye watching the road ahead, his hand 
 testing the steam gauge, or with the whistle warning 
 distant stray animals off the track. Through forest 
 and across highways, as the day grew brighter around 
 him, over river bridges, and along green corn-fields, 
 he roared on and on ! 
 
 Everything going smoothly, the conductor left the 
 rear, ran along the tops of the cars, leaping gaps be- 
 tween them, dropped into the tender and entered the 
 engine-cab. 
 
 He looked all around, holding back the congratula- 
 tory speech ready on his 15ps. 
 
S 2 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Hullo, fireman, where's Dogberry ? " 
 
 " Here, sir." 
 
 " The engineer, I mean. Man that run us out of 
 Pontiac ? " 
 
 " r-m the man" says Jack, examining the steam 
 gauge again. Upon which the conductor sat down. 
 
 " You little rat ! " said he at last. * If you hadn't 
 been so plucky I'd pitch you and your cheek off the 
 train ! " 
 
 *r 
 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 "ONE BY ONE BEYOND RECALL." Song. 
 
 AW me ! what has become 
 of the child ! " whispered 
 Mother Dr. Darling in an 
 awe-struck voice, as she 
 tossed her own white clean 
 baby among the panic- 
 filled Dogberrys who were 
 left. She and Mrs. 
 Thomas and a few other 
 neighbors were talking 
 apart. Ben and Sweet 
 Alice sat by the table j 
 she with her head down, 
 he looking dazed and pale. 
 Loo stood by the window 
 53 
 
54 The Dogberry Bunch, 
 
 shaking with sobs, while Rome and Remus were 
 making the air melodious in a similar manner, in the 
 kitchen. 
 
 It was Monday evening, and the townspeople had 
 given Arty up. They agreed that he had been carried 
 away. The old Bee of the " Beehive," who claimed 
 to have seen the child with a woman, when closely 
 questioned was not sure of anything. It was all a 
 paralyzing mystery. Joyce kindly telegraphed both 
 ends of the road inquiring for a stray child. They 
 could not find him in Sugar Creek or the mill pond. 
 At thought of the little fellow down in the slime or 
 gravel, his rigid hands clinched on dead leaves, the 
 elder Dogberrys were frantic. It was also maddening 
 to think he might be in the hands of some evil- 
 minded person who abused him he might be hungry 
 or sick. 
 
 " Is Ben, or is Miss Alice in ? " asked Mr. Joyce, 
 stepping upon the door-stone. 
 
 Ben and Alice were both at the door, and under 
 their elbows pressed the twins, while Mothers Thomas 
 and Darling pressed at their backs. 
 
 " Have you heard anything ? " inquired Alice, wip- 
 ing her eyes. It was poor little Arty's funeral with- 
 out his body left as a visible sign of consolation. 
 
 " I've got a telegram from Danport," said Joyce. 
 
" One by One Beyond Recall." 55 
 
 " There was a child picked up there to-day hurt on 
 the streets." 
 
 Rome and Remus uttered a mournful howl ; they 
 had no doubt the hurt child was Arthur. 
 
 " Name not known," continued Joyce ; " the child 
 was run over and unconscious. Taken to the house 
 of a lady named Greenoff." 
 
 " Aunt Greenoff ! " exclaimed the five Dogberrys 
 in awe. 
 
 Alice turned to Ben. 
 
 " We'd better go and see if it's Arty," said Ben. 
 
 " Of course ! " cried Mother Darling eagerly," take 
 our buggy : the Doctor is riding horse-back now." 
 
 "And put our sorrel into it," added Mother 
 Thomas ; " he's a good traveler. Thomas isn't using 
 him for anything." 
 
 Now Danport was an old rich town, lying only 
 twelve miles distant ; its railroad connection with the 
 new village, however, was roundabout and included 
 several delays and changes of cars. People seldom 
 thought of going to Danport, therefore, otherwise 
 than by their own conveyances. 
 
 " Yes, and just you get ready right away," added 
 one of the neighbors, " and we'll get some supper for 
 you." 
 
 The neighborly hands made themselves busy, some 
 preparing the meal, others putting Alice 'into her best 
 
56 The Dogberry Bunth. 
 
 dress, her black alpaca and making up a bundle of 
 such things as the young Heads of the house might 
 need. It was now her vacation, so she could leave 
 the school. Presently Ben drove up the Doctor's 
 buggy and Thomas' stiff, old sorrel. Then he hurried 
 into his Sunday suit, and the shattered family sat 
 down to a quick meal, Mother Darling and Mother 
 Thomas waiting on them as if they were so many 
 babies, and these good women were particularly fond 
 of babies. 
 
 " We'll be back as quick as we can," said Alice to 
 the three Berries left. " Rheemie and Maud, you 
 mind Loo, and all take care of yourselves." 
 
 Just as Ben gathered the lines off old sorrel's back, 
 and began to drive off, John White came running, 
 waving his hand to stop them. He drew out a very 
 large pocket-book before reaching the buggy. 
 
 " Going to Danport to see if Arty's there, eh ? Ben, 
 you'll need some money. How much have you ? " 
 
 Ben colored. He didn't know, but guessed he had 
 about a dollar and a half in his purse. 
 
 " Pshaw ! that won't pay a livery bill, to say noth- 
 ing of other expenses you may have. I want to loan 
 you ten dollars. Take both bills : if you don't need 
 'em you can bring 'em back, you know. That's all. 
 I won't stop you any longer." 
 
 " How good everybodv is ! " said Allie, leaning back 
 
" One by One Beyond Recall" 57 
 
 on the stuffed cushions of Dr. Darling's old carriage, 
 as if it was the full heart of humanity beating under 
 her; "we hadn't time to draw my money, and I 
 didn't even think of it.'*' 
 
 The mothers of the town withdrew to their own 
 homes, and Lucy and the twins sat down on the front 
 stoop, forlorn and watching. 
 
 " I wonder if 'twas Arty ? " questioned Rheem. 
 
 " He's hurt awful bad ! " snuffed Maude. 
 
 " I don't believe ''twas Arty. Aunt Greenoff," said 
 the boy, handling his strange relative's name with 
 great respect, " would send us word." 
 
 " She wouldn't know Arty," said Loo sadly. " She 
 never saw him in her life. She doesn't know much 
 about any of us." 
 
 " What makes her our aunt ? " propounded Rome. 
 
 " She isn't. She's a cousin, or something, of moth- 
 er's. We've always been poor and her folks were 
 always rich. That's why she never came to see us," 
 explained Lucy simply, and without the least bitter- 
 ness. 
 
 Next morning while the three children sat at 
 breakfast, Mr. Joyce stepped up on the stoop with 
 more telegraphic news. 
 
 He looked puzzled. 
 
 " There's a child exactly answering Arty's descrip 
 
58 The Dogberry Bunck. 
 
 tion," said he, " up in Carver City. A tramping 
 woman brought him in." 
 
 " What'll we do ? " cried Loo. "Ben and Alice are 
 gone to Danport." 
 
 "Let me go to Carver City," said Remus. 
 
 "And me," added Rome. 
 
 " Lucy had better go," suggested Mr. Joyce, " and 
 you two little fellows keep house. There's the half- 
 past eight passenger coming. I can put you on that 
 and you'll get back on the four o'clock accommoda- 
 tion. They stop here half an hour for breakfast." 
 
 In half an hour, therefore, Lucy, the house-mother, 
 forsook her charge and set out in search of that 
 other charge. The Dogberrys had been steadily 
 decreasing like John Brown's little Indians, and now 
 the twins sat by themselves, too anxious to play 
 heartily, in a sort of Sabbath day of expectancy. 
 Rome got some dinner of bread and butter, berries 
 and cold beef, which Remus solemnly helped her 
 despatch. And shortly after a very little fellow from 
 the " Beehive " peeped around the door-post. 
 
 " Say ! " saluted the urchin. 
 
 " Hullo, Jacey ! Come in," said the host. 
 
 " No, I don't want to. Come out here." 
 
 What is that free-masonry among boys which refuses 
 roofing? Your brother's chum comes and whistles 
 
" One by One Beyond Recall" 59 
 
 for him, and, obedient as a dog, he springs from his 
 place and runs out to answer the whistle. If Julia 
 or Dora should stand on the pavement and whistle for 
 you, how you would resent the girl's breeding and im- 
 pertinence ! " Does she think I'm going to run to her ? 
 Indeed ! let her ring the bell, or come in at the side 
 door ! " Brother Tom, however, will gallop half a 
 square to encounter his signal-giver. And although 
 Rheem was not intimate with Jacey Dixon from the 
 
 JACEV DIXON AND THli TWINS. 
 
 " Beehive," that request to see him out of doors 
 struck home at once, aud he went out to consult 
 Jacey. 
 
 " You found yer little brother ? " asked Jacey, by 
 way of introducing the subject, and wiping his nose 
 the whole length of his arm as he spoke. 
 
 " No. Ben and Alice have gone to Danport and 
 Loo's gone to Carver City " 
 
 " Well, he ain't neither place. I bet I know just 
 where he is ! " 
 
6o 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " I bet you don't ! " cried Remus, becoming ex- 
 cited. 
 
 Maude came to the door and joined in the consul- 
 tation. And the result was that the little house was 
 left alone, without one Dogberry in it, standing silent 
 and lonesome in the pleasant summer afternoon. A 
 barren stem the Berries all rolling away. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LOO GETS OUT OF AND BEN AND ALICE GET INTO 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 HEN Mr. Joyce put 
 Loo upon the train 
 for Carver City he 
 had in his hand a 
 message from 
 Jack, but the new 
 interest concern- 
 ing Arthur put it 
 out of his mind so 
 he forgot even to 
 mention it to her. 
 The message said : 
 
 " MR. JOYCE : I 
 got carried off in 
 the caboose. Am in Cincinnati. Tell our children 
 am coining back just as soon as possible. 
 
 "JACK DOGBERRY." 
 61 
 
62 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Loo had in her pocket the money she made selling 
 strawberries and which she had been saving for a 
 new dress. But when the train started and the con- 
 ductor came to her and spoke about her little lost 
 brother, and she produced her worn portmonnaie, he 
 said it u was all right." Joyce was sending her up 
 on his pass ; and he, the conductor, would speak to 
 the conductor of the return train about her. Loo 
 thanked him and sat still, feeling awed by the unac- 
 customed rush at which she was going, and fixing in 
 her mind the course Mr. Joyce told her to take when 
 she reached Carver City. She was to inquire of the 
 station-master the way to the Dubbs House, and at 
 the Dubbs House for a little boy about three years 
 old, taken by the authorities from a tramping woman 
 to be held until called for by his friends. 
 
 The smoky houses, dirty suburbs and pert city af- 
 fectation of the town of Carver soon appeared. Be- 
 wildered Lucy was helped off the train politely by 
 the conductor and followed the other passengers into 
 the depot. After some inquiry she found the person 
 who had charge of the depot, and he sent an em- 
 ploye' to show her to the Dubbs House. Entering 
 that lordly brick pile, amid the sounding of dinner- 
 gongs and the rush of cheerful people more at home 
 away from home than she, Loo stood anxiously in a 
 
Loo gets out of and Ben and Alice get into Society. 63 
 
 vestibule while the messenger inquired at the clerk's 
 office. Presently a waiter led her up-stairs to a par- 
 lor. 
 
 " When was that little child left here ? " was the in- 
 quiry passed from the clerk's office to the proprietor, 
 and from the proprietor to his various assistants. 
 
 Into the very parlor where Loo sat huddled up on 
 a stiff sofa, a little boy came bouncing, and immedi- 
 ately after him a woman with her hat and gloves in 
 her hand. She seemed unable to let the child get 
 out of her sight and called him shrilly when he 
 peeped out upon the balcony. As she was drawing on 
 her gloves a very pleasant gentleman appeared and 
 walked up to Loo. 
 
 "Yes," said he, "here you are. This is the little 
 boy, and he has just been claimed by his friends who 
 are taking him away." 
 
 Loo looked hard at the child. There was no sign 
 of Arty about him. lie had bluff blue eyes and dark 
 hair, and was fat and boisterous. She wondered if 
 she wasn't forgetting how Arty looked he had been 
 lost so long ! She took out her handkerchief and 
 wiped her eyes and then noticed that the child's 
 mamma was regarding her keenly, as if suspicious 
 that she might be another vagrant after that precious 
 little son. 
 
 "This young Miss's brother has been lost or 
 
64 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 stolen, also," explained the kind proprietor of the 
 Dubbs House. " Lost since yesterday morning, 
 eh?" 
 
 " Sunday morning," sobbed Loo. 
 
 " I am very sorry we haven't him here, too," said 
 the proprietor, and then a waiter called him out. 
 
 As soon as the recovered child's mamma under- 
 stood the state of the case she went and sat by Loo, 
 asking a thousand questions, even shedding tears 
 with her own calamity so fresh in mind. She went 
 away reluctantly and had her boy kiss Loo so many 
 times at parting, that the youngster lost patience and 
 roared indignantly until he was out of hearing. 
 
 Hours must pass before Lucy could return home. 
 She did not think of dinner, but walked out of the 
 Dubbs House and wandered about the streets, won- 
 dering if Ben and Alice also had found somebody 
 else's child. 
 
 Ben and Alice hastened along in Dr. Darling's 
 buggy, drawn by Thomas' good old sorrel, which put 
 the miles behind him as fast as any sorrel need to. 
 The lamplighter was just touching up the street gas 
 in Danport as they drove in, looking each out at a 
 side of the conveyance and timid about what they 
 ought to do. 
 
 " Do you know where Mrs. GreenofT lives ? " ih 
 
Loo gets out of and Ben and Alice get into Society. 65 
 
 quired Ben of the lamplighter, as that cantering gen- 
 tleman mounted a lamp on the curb at which he drew 
 up sorrel. 
 
 " Right there," answered the man, indicating a res- 
 idence whose face he had just illuminated, and so 
 saying he cantered on. 
 
 It was a brown-stone front with a flight of broad steps 
 guarded by lions in stone. Lace drapery shaded the 
 lights within. If Ben and Alice had not been so 
 anxious about Arthur, their simple country feet must 
 have felt shy on the steps of this palace. Ben tied 
 sorrel to a ring in the pavement and mounted to the 
 door with his sister. 
 
 A very neat girl opened the door to them, and 
 showed a vast expanse of hall melting away into a 
 flight of velvet-covered stairs. 
 
 "Is Mrs. Greenoff at home?" trembled Ben's 
 voice. 
 
 " I believe she is," replied the servant doubtfully. 
 
 " We have come to see if a little child we heard 
 was hurt here, was our little brother." 
 
 Inspecting them quickly and with surprise, the 
 girl showed them into a small room on the left side 
 of the hall, which was evidently Mrs. GreenofFs morn- 
 ing-room and library. Black walnut shelves filled 
 *wo opposite sides of the room, where books stood 
 
66 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 shoulder against shoulder in rich array. The top ol 
 the shelves glistened with china ; there were rare 
 old cups, so thin that their closely wrought pictures 
 seemed painted on air ; green and brown majolica in 
 pug dogs and tall, glistening vases ; fanciful faience, 
 and pitchers of purest porcelain ; and on a round ta- 
 ble was a brown-red chocolate tete-a-tete set, which 
 looked as if it had been used within the hour : in 
 fact, it was Mrs. GreenorFs habit to order chocolate 
 into the library every evening before dinner-time. 
 There were easy-chairs of every description. The 
 padded floor drowned every step. And, stooping 
 from the centre of the high, frescoed ceiling, a 
 bronze Hymen held out two torches of gas ; one a 
 mere star, the other a clear flame, which revealed 
 fully the names of the books in the cases, the pict- 
 ures, and a marble copy of the Medicean Venus. 
 
 "Do you think Arty is here?" whispered poor 
 Sweet Alice. 
 
 " I don't know," was all Ben Bolt could reply. 
 
 They waited some minutes. Ben squatted on a 
 camp-stool, balancing himself carefully, Alice sinking 
 deeper and deeper into a velvet chair. 
 
 'Isn't it lovely here?" said Alice again. "She 
 must be so rich, Ben ! " 
 
 The door opened and " she " entered : Mrs. Greenoff, 
 
Loo gets out of and Ben and Alice get into Society. 0; 
 
 widow. A slight, very stylish, very handsome lady, 
 with eyes which were black and keen when she 
 wished to be penetrating, and brown and soft when 
 she wished to be winning. Her silk garments clung 
 close and statuesque around her, without trailing and 
 without much rustle. Her white, fine hands glittered 
 with the liquid white of diamonds. Her eyes were black 
 and penetrating as she looked at the children when 
 they rose up before her. Ben's camp-seat rose part 
 of the way with him and tumbled back in a collapse. 
 His face turned red, but he stood up finely and hold- 
 ing his hat in his hand, made his bow. 
 
 " We are the Dogberry children," said Ben. 
 
 " Indeed," said Mrs. Greenoff. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am. And Arty, our youngest, got lost 
 Sunday morning ; and Mr. Joyce, that's the agent in 
 New Town, got a telegram that there was a little boy 
 here. So we came to see if it was he." 
 
 Ben used his best grammar and held himself as 
 became the Head of the Bunch. Inwardly he was 
 slightly nettled at the lady's manner, and though he 
 admired her intensely he wished her to see he came 
 on -business and for nothing else. 
 
 But Mrs. Greenoff now came forward and took 
 both children by the hand. 
 
 " I have not seen you since you were babies," ^aid 
 
68 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 she, " but I am glad to see Sarah Dogberry's chil- 
 dren. I have often thought of looking after you, 
 but matters of one kind or another always prevented 
 me. Yes, there was a little child hurt on this street 
 this morning and I have him up-stairs. I do not 
 know your little brother, but I am afraid I do not 
 know whether to say I am afraid, or 1 hope, it is he. 
 Come up with me quietly and you may see him. But 
 don't agitate him. He is asleep now. An omnibus 
 ran over him," continued Mrs, Greenoff, leading them 
 up the padded stairs and along another vast, dimly 
 lighted hall, "but, fortunately, he was only knocked 
 down and bruised a little. Still, he is such an ex- 
 citable child the doctor says he must be kept quiet 
 as possible, or the strong emotions he has been under 
 will produce fever." 
 
 She opened a door into a cool, high room which 
 suggested glaciers and mountains and cascades to a 
 travelled mind, but to Ben and Alice it suggested 
 nothing but Arty. A quiet woman with a broad lap, 
 in a black dress and white apron, rose, obeying a 
 sign from Mrs. Greenoff, and drew the curtain 
 back off a large crib standing in the middle of 
 the room. There he lay. It was Arty ! His delicate 
 face was flushed and every hair on his head glinted 
 in the old way. Bless the wax-like hands folded on 
 
Loo gets out of and Ben and Alice get into Society. 69 
 
 the counterpane ! Bless his dear mouth ! Bless his 
 downy, golden eyebrows and the lashes flaring so 
 
 from his lids ! 
 Alice could 
 scarcely keep 
 from flying a t 
 him and squeez- 
 ing him to her 
 heart's content. 
 Now that he was 
 alive and safe and 
 not badly hurt, 
 his young foster- 
 parents realized 
 what a huge 
 weight of s u s- 
 pense they had 
 carried . Ben 
 groaned joyfully. 
 The nurse, un- 
 derstanding the case, smiled sympathizingly ; and 
 two crystal tears rolled from Alice's eyes down her 
 'clear cheeks. 
 
 " She is quite a pretty little thing," thought Mrs. 
 Greenoff. She motioned them to follow her out again 
 and they reluctantly descended the stairs after her. 
 
 'AS AKTY ! 
 
 
70 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " He is really doing very well," said she. "I am 
 exceedingly glad he was brought to this house." 
 
 " When can we take him back ? " asked Ben. 
 
 Mrs. Greenoff laughed. 
 
 " My dear boy, I don't intend to let that baby go 
 away under a week. Indeed, the doctor says he 
 must not be farther moved and excited. Now, let 
 me make you comfortable. How did you come ? " 
 
 "In Dr. Darling's buggy. It's hitched out in 
 front." 
 
 Mrs. Greenoff went across the library and pulled a 
 silk tassel which hung from the ceiling. 
 
 " Well then, ma'am," pursued Ben, " we thank you 
 very much indeed ; and if you and the doctor think 
 he had better be let stay, Allie and I would better go 
 right back and tell the other children, and we can 
 keep coming to see him till he comes home." 
 
 A respectful man entered and stood for orders ; to 
 whom Mrs. Greenoff turned and said : 
 
 " Michael, there is a buggy at the door which you 
 will attend to." 
 
 Michael having passed out, the lady further contin- 
 ued : 
 
 ". My dears, don't shame me because I have been 
 so tardy about showing interest in you. You will 
 remain with me to-night and perhaps to-morrow 
 
Loo gets out of and Ben and Alice get into Society. 7 1 
 
 at anyrate. You can write a message at once and I 
 will have it sent to the family. Go in there if you 
 want to wash your hands. Dinner will be ready 
 shortly." She pulled a curtain one side and showed 
 them a cunning room with marble basins and plenty 
 of towels, where water followed the turn of a faucet. 
 This bath-room communicated with Mrs. GreenofFs 
 own apartment, and was the connecting and rejuve- 
 nating link which united her morning hours to her 
 morning-room. 
 
 " My patience, Ben ! " murmured Alice as she rinsed 
 her fingers and watched the water curl away, " how 
 does she stand it till this time without dinner ? " 
 
 "I guess it's the same as tea," replied Ben, "only 
 she calls it dinner." 
 
 It was not the same as tea, however, as they found 
 when they were ushered into the dining-room. It 
 was an exquisite meal in courses, containing dishes 
 of which the children had never heard. There were 
 five plates laid. Mrs. Greenoff placed the children 
 at her left hand, Ben nearest her, Allie toward the 
 front of the table, and waited an instant with her 
 hand on the back of her chair until an old lady, lean- 
 ing on a woman's arm, entered and took the place 
 opposite the children, the woman standing back of 
 her chair to wait upon her. 
 
72 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 "Mrs. Wiley," said the hostess, "let me present 
 these young people to you. They are children of my 
 cousin, Sarah Dogberry." 
 
 " Eh ? " said Mrs. Wiley, lifting her wrinkled brows. 
 " Young people, I hope you are well." 
 
 Ben and Alice opened their napkins and returned 
 her good wishes. She was an old lady, much like 
 the fairy god-mother in children's stories, but without 
 that prized individual's sprightliness. She had a 
 crook in her nose, a crook in her back, a cap which 
 would get into steeple-shape, and a black cane ; she 
 also had very penetrating dark eyes. 
 
 " This lady is Mr. GreenofFs grandmother," ex- 
 plained the hostess to the children. 
 
 The door-bell rang and a few minutes afterward 
 a young gentleman of eighteen or nineteen entered 
 the dining-room. I say young gentleman, for, at that 
 age, he had a full-fledged mustache and the air of a 
 man. In appearance he was ten years Ben's senior, 
 yet there were scarcely three years between them. He 
 had a warm, brown complexion, and, though his head 
 was as freshly dipt as a florist's bouquet, the black 
 hair showed its disposition to turn into rings and 
 waves. His temperament seemed genial, his pres- 
 ence magnetic. He was certainly a bright, hand- 
 some young fellow, with some polish. Alice looked 
 
too gets out of and Ben and Alice get into Society. 73 
 
 up at him steadily, and the kindly feeling flowing 
 from his eyes reassured her. He spoke first to his 
 grandmother, bowed to the strangers, and then said 
 to his mother, as he took his seat : 
 
 "You must pardon my being a little late, mother. 
 I had some trouble getting the balance right." 
 
 " Certainly, Joslyn. Let me introduce the children 
 of my cousin, Sarah Dogberry. You never saw them, 
 and I confess I have not seen them since they were 
 quite small." 
 
 Joslyn bowed again. A quizzical smile played 
 over his face at the mention of " children," and Al- 
 ice could not help reflecting his smile as they looked 
 at one another once more. But as for Ben, his face 
 flared red. He did not mind being mentioned as a 
 child to the old grandmother ; but when it came to 
 being presented as a juvenile to a youth older than 
 himself only in advantages, he mentally resented it. 
 Mrs. Greenoff saw this and continued with ready tact, 
 addressing Ben and Alice while she indicated Jos- 
 >: 
 
 "And this is my child, very little your senior. 
 Your mother thought him a fine baby when last I 
 saw her." 
 
 The fine baby pulled his mustache and, addressing 
 Alice, said he thanked Cousin Sarah Dogberry for 
 
74 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 that pretty compliment; and Alice liked him very 
 much indeed for calling her mother Cousin Sarah. 
 She thought, also, that if she had known Arty was 
 safe here she would have taken more pains with her 
 dress, and have been surer of her best hem-stitched 
 cuffs and collar. She was afraid Ben would eat 
 with his knife, or pour his coffee out and set his cup 
 on the cloth, in the free-and-easy way he did at 
 home. 
 
 That hour, a desire for refinement and refining as- 
 sociations as the means of the best culture, rose 
 strongly in her. She found these strange kindred 
 kind and genial and pleasing without any effort to 
 appear so. Among the bluff New Towners she had 
 heard polish sneered at, as a sort of insincere, social 
 veneering which hid contemptible faults. " Still it is 
 nicer than rudeness, even when it is shallow," 
 thought she ; " but O I when it goes all through, how 
 beautiful social culture must be ! " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHAT THE ELDEST DOGBERRYS DID IN SOCIETY. 
 
 MRS. WILEY said very little, but she watched 
 the children sharply. When all rose from the 
 table she disappeared with her servant. 
 
 " Do you like music ? " asked Joslyn, turning at 
 once to Alice. 
 
 " O, very much indeed ! " 
 
 " Then let me take your brother and you to the 
 
 music-room. 
 
 75 
 
76 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Allie hesitated. 
 
 " I want to go. But could you wait a moment un- 
 til I run and see if my little brother is awake ? " 
 
 Joslyn would readily wait. He wanted to look 
 over the evening paper in the library; they would 
 find him there. 
 
 With Ben creeping softly beside her, Alice ran 
 again up-stairs. Mrs. Greenoff was required by even- 
 ing callers, so they went by themselves. Nurse 
 Tucker answered their muffled rap at the chamber 
 door. 
 
 " Come in, dears. He's awake and has had his 
 supper, and is just as peart and sweet as he can be.'* 
 
 " Arty, darling, do you know Allie ? And here's 
 brother Ben. Bless the precious ! " 
 
 For answer, and to demonstrate his sweetness, the 
 Precious lifted one little leg and kicked violently at 
 his relatives. 
 
 "Go 'way!" he howled. "I'll slap ye! I'm's 
 want my Jack ! " 
 
 "Jack will come, baby. Be quiet; there's a 
 dearie, do." 
 
 The nurse came to him with some sweet soothing 
 mixture ; and he let himself be raised, and lay 
 propped quietly among pillows. 
 
 "He's very sore yet," said Mrs. Tucker. "A 
 
What the Eldest Dogberry s did in Society. 77 
 
 massy it hadn't smashed his brains out, poor little 
 love 1 There's the black and blue bruises on his lit- 
 tle body would make ye cry." 
 
 " Arty, do you know Benny ? " 
 
 "No. I'm don't know ye 1" 
 
 " Darling, how did you come here ? " 
 
 Arthur closed his eyes and panted a little while. 
 His sister's eyes filled. 
 
 " I runned off," he deigned to reply. "And 'eu I 
 called Jacky and he wouldn't come. And I cried. 
 Big wagon runned over me all over me. 'Ey 
 runned on you' dolling boy 1" 
 
 "Poor little darling boy! He was hunting Jack. 
 Where did you think Jacky was, Precious? " 
 
 " Hiddley-giddle." 
 
 " And who brought you to Hiddley-giddle ? " 
 
 " Deedle an' Sipsey." 
 
 And that is all they learned of Arthur's journey. 
 From hints which his memory furnished afterwards, 
 it appeared that he had been assisted over his twelve- 
 mile jaunt by various persons who considered him 
 lost ; but he skillfully gave everybody the slip who 
 interfered with his search after Jack. He talked of 
 riding in carriages, and cf big men and big wagons, 
 but he was sure of nobody except Deedle and Sip- 
 sey. 
 
78 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Will it hurt him to talk ? " asked Alice, while 
 Ben got down and made a sheep of himself to bring 
 out a smile on the little brother's face. 
 
 " Best not to worry him, dears." 
 
 " Will he need anybody to sit with him to-night ? " 
 
 "O, no; just his medicine reg'lar. I'll take good 
 care of him, don't you be afraid." 
 
 " I ought to have thought of bringing clothes for 
 him," said Alice, ruefully. 
 
 " O, don't you fret. There's lots of gowns in the 
 house, and his little suit has been all brushed and 
 cleaned up. It was that covered with dirt and dust ! 
 You leave him to me. I know all about children," 
 laughed Nurse Tucker. 
 
 They thanked the good soul and still lingered a 
 minute ; Alice to kiss the plump round of his cheek 
 just as his eyes were closing, and, for answer, she got 
 a smart pat from his prompt little hand. 
 
 " It's a good sign," laughed Mrs. Tucker. 
 " Crossness, cure certain." 
 
 " I'm will kiss ye, Allie," repented Arthur. And, 
 giving her a melting kiss, he dropped off into a deep 
 sleep before she left the room. 
 
 Joslyn was reading in the library beside a drop- 
 light. He showed Ben where writing materials were, 
 
What the Eldest Dogberrys did in Society. 79 
 
 with which to write a note to the children. This Ben 
 wrote and addressed to Loo, with a plea on the outside 
 to the postmaster to hasten its delivery ; and Joslyn sent 
 it off by Michael to catch the evening mail. Then he 
 led them to the music-room ; an octagon with a whole 
 ceiling of sky-light, through which, in daytime, the 
 sunshine came tempered by the soft brown colors of 
 the glass. 
 
 This room was still in twilight, though no burners 
 were lighted ; and the rest of the house, not so illu- 
 minated, was quite dark. Joslyn drew some matches 
 and touched them to what seemed to be two whole 
 clusters of wax candles, supported by two St. Cecil- 
 las, who stood at opposite sides of an organ. In- 
 stantly the whole room sprung into great beauty. 
 The floor was of polished oak, and the walls were 
 wainscoted half-way up. A portrait of Mozart hung 
 over an etagere of his music. Beethoven and Sebas- 
 tian Bach also appeared above racks devoted spe- 
 cially to them. There were casts of the heads of Verdi 
 and Haydn and many more wonderful men, completely 
 fascinating to Allie when Joslyn in his enthusiasm told 
 about them, giving sketches of their lives and de- 
 scriptions of their works. There were several instru- 
 ments in the room. Allie looked up with some awe 
 
80 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 at the organ with large blue pipes, built into one side 
 of the room. 
 
 "That must have cost a considerable lot of 
 money," remarked Ben. 
 
 "Two thousand five hundred dollars," replied Jos- 
 lyn smiling, " and worth its price, every cent." 
 
 While Ben was calculating how long it would take 
 to earn two thousand five hundred at his trade, and 
 how much the said two thousand and five hundred 
 would do for the children, young Greenoff picked up 
 some rounded sticks and struck several taps on a 
 large, flat drum. 
 
 " This is a tom-tom," said he. 
 
 Answering it, as if it were an accustomed signal, a 
 boy entered the room through a door opposite the 
 one leading to the front of the house, and went be- 
 hind a screen at one side of the organ. 
 
 Joslyn opened the instrument and, placing his 
 guests in seats, began playing for them. He was 
 quite a musical amateur for one so young. Alice 
 trembled with delight as the volume of the organ was 
 for the first time revealed to her. She stood up and 
 remained, like one of the St. Cecilias, wrapt in the 
 sense of hearing. Joslyn was not a very tripping, 
 light-fingered performer, but he had a gift for shading 
 his music by combinations of stops. The enthusiasm 
 
What the Eldest Dogberry s did in Society. 8 1 
 
 of listeners always helped him, too ; so he enjoyed a 
 quarter of an hour of his own playing as much as Al- 
 ice did. Ben stepped around the pile and took in its 
 mechanical capacity, and watched the little blower 
 pumping. Joslyn showed him how the bellows 
 worked, and the effects of the stops and pedals. 
 
 " How did you ever learn it ? " cried Allie. 
 
 " O, I have just begun," said Joslyn. " I took les- 
 sons during the winter that we spent in Milan. I saw 
 Verdi bring out his opera of ' Aida ' there. ' [t was 
 fine, I tell you ! Then I had lessons in Germany, 
 and 1 practice when I have leisure. Some day. maybe. 
 I can play ! " 
 
 Allie felt sure he was one of the finest performers 
 in the country; but suppressing her conviction, she 
 asked, timidly : 
 
 " How long did you stay in Europe ? " 
 
 " We were there three or four years wandering up 
 and down. That is, I wandered considerably with 
 my uncle, Mr. Thorn ; but mother, on Grandmother 
 Wiley's account, stayed a great deal in Paris. My 
 grandmother is fond of foreign countries, but does 
 not like travel and change. She is very old." 
 
 " What is your business ? " inquired Ben. 
 
 " I am learning banking with Uncle Thorn," re- 
 plied Joslyn. 
 
82 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " I should think it was nice clean work," observed 
 Ben. 
 
 " It is," laughed Joslyn, " when the dirty accounts 
 don't get mixed. What's your work ? " 
 
 "I'm a carpenter," said Ben, " and I think I'm go- 
 ing to like it first-rate. My notion is to get to be a 
 master-builder, and even plan houses and other build- 
 ings. I think building is one of the most useful 
 and and important businesses in the country." 
 
 " So it is ! " cried Joslyn, who loved enthusiasm in 
 anybody. " How many children are there of you ? " 
 he added, after a pause. 
 
 " Seven. And Allie teaches ; Jack is learning rail- 
 roading ; Loo takes care of the house ; and the three 
 little ones are growing nicely," said Ben, with family 
 pride. 
 
 "I wish I'd found you out before," said Joslyn. 
 " I like you. I am sure mother would have taken 
 great interest in you if somebody had brought you 
 under her notice ; but she always has to have things 
 put under her notice before she will attend to them. 
 I bring the accounts of the family expenses to her 
 and set her down to them. All women are alike," 
 glancing quizzically at Alice, " they have no idea of 
 the value of time, and can't account for how they 
 spend it." 
 
What the Eldest Dogberrys did in Society. 83 
 
 " If I had such a music-room as this," said she, 
 " I could account for some hours I should spend." 
 
 " Don't you play ? Let me hear you." 
 
 "O, no!" Allie flushed scarlet. " She could not 
 play, but she wanted to." 
 
 " She does," cried Ben. " She plays the organ for 
 Sunday-school in New Town and leads the singing!" 
 
 She was then constrained to sing and she did, 
 choosing instead of the great organ she admired, and 
 the square piano which she was not sure of, a small 
 cabinet organ. She sung in a sweet contralto, and 
 Ben dutifully stood by her and roared out his Sunday 
 bass, which, as his voice was not yet heavy, sounded 
 uncertain in parts. Joslyn leaned against the wain- 
 scot and watched her kindly. She really had a great 
 deal of attraction for him. 
 
 " I should like to practice with you. It is'n't so 
 far to New Town. Couldn't you come over some- 
 times and learn the organ if we send ? " 
 
 Simultaneously with this wonderful vista the door 
 from the front hall was opened, and Mrs. Greenoff 
 looked in. 
 
 "Joslyn, Professor Guilder and Rose and the 
 McKnights are here. And Mrs. Wiley has sent 
 down to ask you," to Ben and Alice, " if you will 
 come to her room a little while." 
 
84 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " This way, please," said Mrs. Wiley's woman to 
 the children as Joslyn followed his mother. 
 
 She led them into a hall branching from the main 
 entrance on the ground floor, and ushered them into 
 what seemed to be a suite divided by curtained 
 arches. The first room was a parlor, dimly lighted, 
 furnished in heavy old-fashioned furniture ; but the 
 second room was bright and cosy, pale buff colors 
 predominating in it. There was a variety of easy 
 chairs, and in the largest and most pliable of them 
 sat Mrs. Wiley, her wrinkled hands resting on the 
 top of her black cane and her two very small feet rest- 
 ing on a velvet foot-stool. She looked more than ever 
 like the fairy god-mother, and eyed the children as 
 they took the seats to which she motioned them as if 
 she had half a mind to lift that ebony cane, touch 
 each of them and change them into a Prince and 
 Princess of the most approved fashion. She was 
 above eighty years old and some of her faculties 
 were impaired ; but her memory and her sense of 
 her own dignity were as fresh as when, a beautiful 
 woman, she had life all before her as these children 
 had. 
 
 " Wiley/' said she to her attendant, "bring some 
 bon-bons." 
 
 The woman, who had the same name as her mis- 
 
What the Eldest Dogberry s did in Society. 85 
 
 tress, but was unmistakably of good Irish stock, went 
 to a rosewood cabinet, and opening it revealed its use 
 as a cupboard of sweets. She was so neat-handed, 
 so attentive and kind, that Allie loved her honest 
 face. She piled three small china plates with cun- 
 ning French confections of fruits, and added to each 
 a bunch of hot-house white grapes ; for this old lady 
 had never lost her sweet tooth, and she picked dain- 
 tily at her bon-bons while Ben and Alice sat before 
 her, properly, but with great relish, tasting theirs. 
 
 " How old are you ? " she asked Alice. 
 
 " Eighteen, ma'am." 
 
 " You seem a mere child. Sixty-three years ago I 
 was eighteen. President Madison lived in the White 
 House then, and I wore a silver tissue dress to one 
 of his receptions. I was lighter on my feet than you, 
 my dear. You have a pretty face." She put up her 
 eye-glasses and, leaning forward, looked closely at Al- 
 lie, the latter bearing the inspection with innocent 
 gravity. " I want you to realize what your youth is. 
 Enjoy it while it lasts. By and by you will be an 
 old woman, and then you can only sit and think of 
 the past as I do. It is a sin against God when the 
 youth of any child is overshadowed. Are you happy ? " 
 
 " O yes, ma'am ! " 
 
 " Sarah Dearborn was a fair, pretty girl. I remenv 
 
86 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 her seeing her often with my grandson's wife. Dear ; 
 dear ! so she has borne children and passed away. 
 How many did she leave ? " 
 
 " Seven, ma'am." 
 
 " Seven. And well brought up and provided for, I 
 dare say/' 
 
 "We are doing for ourselves, ma'am," said Ben 
 sturdily. " We've been taught how to." 
 
 The old grandmother eyed him sharply and asked 
 Allie: 
 
 " What do you do ? " 
 
 " I teach." 
 
 " O, you instruct the other children. That is very 
 pretty of you and saves expense. I used to interest 
 myself in the lessons of my brothers and sisters. 
 They are gone, now, all gone ! Where is your watch, 
 my dear ? You should wear your watch and consult 
 it, so you can avail yourself of the best use of your 
 time." 
 
 Allie smiled with pure amusement. 
 
 " My watch ! Why, I never had a watch ! " 
 
 Grandmother Wiley looked at her some time be- 
 fore she accepted conviction of this fact. Then, 
 without comment, she turned to Wiley. 
 
 " Wiley, bring me my brass-bound case." 
 
 Wiley brought a square box, very strong on the 
 
What the Eldest Dogberrys did in Society. 87 
 
 outside, but very rich in the inside with white satin 
 and velvet and precious stones. It shot out rain- 
 bows and vivid colors, as, placing it on her lap and 
 applying a key, the old lady opened it. Ben and Al- 
 ice could not for their lives help stooping near to 
 look at this little Valley of Diamonds. There were 
 two or three watches in two or three white nests, 
 their chains meandering out. Mrs. Wiley selected a 
 heavily enameled one with a chased "A" on the 
 case. 
 
 " I bought this myself in Geneva, for a little girl 
 who died. Her name was Alice, too did I not 
 hear your brother call you Alice ? She never got her 
 watch, so I will give it to you." 
 
 Allie drew back, though her large eyes were start- 
 ing with delight. 
 
 " O, I couldn't think of taking anything so beauti- 
 ful ! " 
 
 " Why couldn't you ? " said Mrs. Wiley sharply. 
 
 " I'm afraid I oughtn't it's so lovely ! I'm sure 
 I never could do anything to pay you " 
 
 " Hoity-toity ! Can't I give a child a bauble ? 
 Bend your head." She dropped the long chain 
 around the girl's neck and tucked the watch into her 
 dress. 
 
 " Keep it to remember what an old woman has said 
 
88 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 to you. I suppose, sir," she added, looking up sharply 
 at Ben, who stood grinning with amazed joy, " that 
 you are jealous and in a rage because I didn't find 
 a trinket for you instead of her ! " 
 
 Ben's grin ran over and sounded aloud at the very 
 idea. 
 
 "Why, I'd lots rather Allie'd have things than 
 have 'em myself, anytime ! I think that's the pretti- 
 est thing I ever saw, and I don't know how we'll 
 thank you ! " 
 
 " You're a good boy," said Mrs. Wiley, removing 
 her scrutiny. " Now I will detain you no longer. I 
 retire very early and you will want to be among the 
 young people." 
 
 She extended her hand to Ben, and, obeying some 
 gracious instinct which was born in him, the boy 
 stooped and kissed the back of it, which was like 
 shriveled rose leaves. 
 
 "Very well, my son; I thank you for this visit," 
 said the old grandmother, pleased by this sponta- 
 neous attention. Then she drew Allie down and 
 touched the girl's cheek with her lips. Wiley showed 
 them into the main hall, and they went along it arm 
 in arm. 
 
 " Ben, I'm afraid I oughtn't to keep this," said Al- 
 ice. 
 
What the Eldest Dogberry s did in Society. 89 
 
 Ben harbored misgivings, but the watch was so 
 pretty he could not in his heart bear to think Allie 
 ought not to keep it. 
 
 " We're poor, you know, Ben, and she's she's so 
 kind ; but she's very old, and never saw us before to- 
 day, and Mrs. Greenoff might think " 
 
 "Yes, so she might," said Ben ruefully. "I 
 thought of that myself." 
 
 "I'll speak about it," concluded Alice, "and offer 
 it back. That's sure to be the best way." 
 
 The great organ in the music-room was at this mo- 
 ment in a state of high musical gymnastics, and a 
 girl's sweet soprano executing trills and crescendos. 
 
 " I'd like to speak right away," said Alice. 
 
 Still they both hesitated about re-entering the music- 
 room where the strangers now were ; so they went to 
 the library, where Joslyn found them ten minutes la- 
 ter, when he rushed in for a book of musical refer- 
 ence. He carried them back with him and intro- 
 duced them to Professor and Miss Guilder and the 
 ^McKnights. The Professor was on the organ-bench, 
 and it was Miss Guilder's voice they had heard. She 
 was a tall blonde, very stylish, very unbending. She 
 nodded to. the two country children, continuing the 
 remark she was making to one of the McKnights. The 
 McKnights were cousins, Joslyn told Allie after- 
 
90 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 wards, and both of them warm admirers of Miss 
 Guilder. 
 
 One was tall, sarcastic and exquisite, with very 
 glittering teeth; the other a short, good-natured 
 young man, with a voice like Punch's, and a hearty 
 interest in every human being the world contained. 
 The tall McKnight stood between Miss Guilder and 
 Mrs. Greenoff, talking gracefully to both. 
 
 Allie saw there was no opportunity of speaking 
 with her hostess, so she gratefully let the short 
 McKnight give her a seat and turn over her opera li- 
 brettos for her, and tell her in the intervals between 
 the music, in the most genial way, as if he had known 
 her always, his last summer's yachting experiences, 
 and his general preference for active sports. When 
 his tall cousin was present he was eclipsed, and Miss 
 Guilder's presence lost to him ; but he seemed to en- 
 joy " playing second fiddle." 
 
 When the Professor began playing again, however, 
 Allie could do nothing but watch ; and as for Ben, 
 with folded arms and eyes quite popping out, he 
 stood by himself contemplating that spectacle with 
 astonishment. The Professor was one of those per- 
 formers who are said to " play all over." Now his 
 shoulders galloped with his hands down the octaves, 
 and his feet in a mad stampede thundered among the 
 
What the Eldest Dogberry s did in Society. 93 
 
 pedals. Then he raised himself as if to leap head- 
 long among the blue pipes and butt his brains out ; 
 but, making a quick dash to the left, he pulled out 
 a handful of stops, jumped violently to the right as 
 if he had made up his mind to surprise the blower at 
 his tricks and thrash him, and only changed it in 
 time to grab another handful of stops and climb the 
 banks of keys again. He was improvising, Joslyn 
 told Allie : that is, making up music as he went along. 
 She could only wish he wouldn't. 
 
 "I think," she observed gravely, "he could find 
 some that is prettier already written out, and it 
 wouldn't be so hard to play don't you?" 
 
 For reply to this innocent speech Joslyn's eyes 
 flashed a thousand twinkles, and he went over by one 
 of the etageres where she could see his shoulders 
 quake, as if he were laughing to himself, and enjoying 
 the remark to which he could make no reply. 
 
 "Professor Guilder is a great organist," murmured 
 the short McKnight, " and Miss Guilder has a very 
 rare voice a pure soprano." 
 
 Miss Guilder did sing exquisitely. Her voice, un- 
 like herself, was pliant and richly tender. For the 
 first time in their lives Ben and Alice heard really 
 good singing. Handel's "Angels ever bright and 
 fair " opened a world of goodness and delight right 
 
94 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 close to their senses ; and selection after selection 
 thrilled them with new feelings. It was in part a 
 church rehearsal, the Professor, Miss Guilder and 
 Joslyn, being members of a choir. Ben and Alice 
 could have wished it to last all night, but when the 
 callers departed they were dismayed to hear a clock 
 in the drawing-rooms striking eleven. What hours for 
 young folks who slept with the birds ! This re- 
 minded Allie of her watch, however, and as soon as 
 Mrs. Greenoff had bowed the party out she ap- 
 proached her timidly. Joslyn was in the music-room, 
 re-arranging his music sheets. 
 
 "We went up to see Mrs. Wiley," she began, tak- 
 ing the watch-chain in her thumb and ringer, " and 
 she was very kind." 
 
 " She has taken a fancy to you, I see," said Mrs. 
 Greenoff, smiling at the chain standing out in relief 
 against the girl's black dress. 
 
 * But I wished to ask you " There Allie paused 
 greatly embarrassed. When she came to do it, she 
 found it indelicate to hint to the hostess that the el- 
 der lady might be in her dotage, and a present from 
 her ought, perhaps, to be returned. Mrs. Greenoff 
 understood her hesitation as delicately as she ex- 
 pressed it. 
 
 " Mrs. . Wiley has paid you a compliment which 
 

 What the Eldest Dogberrys did in Society. 95 
 
 you must appreciate," she said heartily. " She sel- 
 dom takes sudden fancies to young people. Cer- 
 tainly you will keep the watch, my dear. Let me see 
 if it agrees with mine about the time. Yes. Well, now 
 you will be shown to your rooms, and to-morrow I 
 want to have a talk with you about your mother and 
 all the children." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN WHICH JACK RISES AND THE TWINS FALL. 
 
 N Monday morning 
 Jack sat at breakfast 
 in the cosy St. Nich- 
 olas, and opposite 
 him sat a portly gen- 
 tleman who was Gen- 
 eral Agent for the 
 road on which J. 
 Dogberry, the day 
 before, made his 
 debut as engineer. 
 He tucked his nap- 
 kin under his chin as 
 he was the agent do, 
 and settled down to 
 b re akf as t like a 
 man. Jack was hun- 
 gry. Sunday had 
 been a partial fast ; and in the evening after his arrival 
 in Cincinnati, he had no appetite. He was all eyes. 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall 97 
 
 The agent cut up the steak and broke his eggs, 
 watching the boy all the time with amusement and 
 approval. 
 
 " So you brought the train through, did you ? And 
 saved it, too ! Those fellows made a wreck of some 
 of the freights in Pontiac. I'm going to come down 
 pretty severe on Green, the engineer you relieved, 
 and some more of them." 
 
 " Yes, sir, they didn't act right. But I think the 
 ones who did the damage weren't railroad boys. I 
 don't think you ought to be too hard on them." 
 
 " You're a clannish sort of a young man." 
 
 " Well, when I'm in a business, I want to stand by 
 the folks that employ me and the folks I'm working 
 with. I don't believe that engineer would have acted 
 so if he hadn't been drinking. He oughtn't to drink, 
 you know." 
 
 " Certainly not." 
 
 " Our Bunch of children," pursued Jack, " sort 
 of clan together at home. And so it comes natural 
 to me, when I'm in a business, to stand up for it and 
 for the other people in it ! " 
 
 " How long have you been in the railroad busi- 
 ness !" inquired the agent smiling broadly. 
 
 " Well, about two years. I sweep out the depot, 
 and carry the messages, and take down the market 
 
98 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 reports, and do everything Mr. Joyce wants me to. I 
 get ten dollars a month. It isn't much, but it's lots 
 better than nothing; and then I'm learning tele- 
 graphing and all about it." 
 
 " Board yourself ? " 
 
 " Yes. I board at home. I would have fifteen 
 dollars a month ; but I'm too young to carry the mails, 
 they think, so I pay a man five dollars a month to do 
 that. That is, they give him the money they'd give 
 me if I could do it." 
 
 " How did you learn to run a locomotive ? " 
 
 " O, I want to find out everything I can, so I'll 
 know the whole business. I love an engine, and 
 the engineers taught me on the road." 
 
 The agent kept smiling so Jack thought he was as 
 pleasant a man as he had ever seen. 
 
 " So you're determined to mount the whole lad- 
 der ? " 
 
 " Why, yes, sir, if I can. I think the railroad busi- 
 ness is splendid. There's so much git-up about it. 
 It keeps a man all alive, and that's the way I want to 
 be." 
 
 " It's very lively, then, up in New Town ? " 
 
 " O, course it isn't like a big city ; but there are 
 two mail trains a day and one express, besides the 
 freights." 
 
 " I should like to see such a stirring town," said 
 

 In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall. 99 
 
 the agent. " Perhaps I'll run up there before long." 
 
 " Do ! " exclaimed Jack, " and come and have din- 
 ner at our house. We have got one of the best gar- 
 dens in town ; and I bet our raspberries will be ripe 
 before anybody else's ! " 
 
 "That is very tempting. Now, while I think of it, 
 give me your full address." 
 
 He took out a pencil and memorandum book and, 
 at Jack's dictation, wrote his name, town and state. 
 
 "Now, what else shall we order? You are my 
 guest and I mustn't starve you." 
 
 "O, I've had a splendid breakfast, and I don't 
 want anything more, sir." 
 
 " Well, we will meet here at two o'clock, my din- 
 ner hour. You will want to look about town. If 
 you get tired of that, come down to the office on 
 Vine street next street to this, running north and 
 south. And, by the way," concluded the agent as he 
 took up the check and opened his pocket-book, 
 "here is an advance on the little testimonial we 
 intend to give you for your services. Mind, young 
 man, I don't say I quite endorse rashness and ven- 
 turesomeness ; but, the way matters resulted, you 
 saved us some money." 
 
 Jack flushed as the ten dollar bill was laid before 
 him. 
 
 " Why, here you're giving me my meals,' 1 said he, 
 
ioo The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " and I didn't want anything for bringin' that train 
 down. I did it just as if it had been my own, you 
 know ! " 
 
 " Yes, I know. And that's what we like. Take 
 this now and say no more. You'll want to get some 
 little presents for that family of yours." 
 
 Jack thought of Arty ; and, putting the money with 
 great importance and eager thanks into his porte- 
 monnaie, he went out on the shady side of Fourth 
 street. To a country boy the fine old street was a 
 valley of wonders. The melancholy " Tay-tine-all- 
 toe ! " cry of the old-clothes man, the street-cars, the 
 books and pictures and dry goods and wood-carving 
 in the windows, the brisk boys and girls, the rush of 
 people, the confused rumble and roar, kept him in a 
 state of excitement which was Jack's idea of beati- 
 tude. 
 
 He went into the stores and looked at the pretty 
 dresses Jack had an eye for pretty dresses and 
 hesitated a long time over a made suit, which he had 
 a mind to buy for Arty ; but on learning that it was 
 valued at twenty dollars he decided not to take it. 
 Then he rambled out and found at another place a 
 huge rocking-horse, strong enough to hold himself, 
 and with man-e and tail of real hair, and fiery nostrils 
 and head erect. And after ascertaining that it was 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall. 101 
 
 amply within his means, and meditating fondly for 
 the last time on his green bill with the X's on it, he 
 bought the horse and ordered it sent to the depot 
 from which he was to start for home in the evening. 
 
 The spell which hangs on concentrated money 
 being broken, Jack now acted the young prodigal 
 and flung it about with a lavish hand. He got a pair 
 of books for Rome and Remus, a silk handkerchief 
 which cost exactly ninety-five cents for Benjamin, 
 and a pair of real kid gloves apiece for Allie and 
 Loo. Not knowing the sizes they wore, he was at a 
 loss when the clerk asked him what numbers. But 
 Jack was not to be balked. He described his sis- 
 ters : 
 
 " Loo is tall as a tree," said he, " that is, pretty 
 near ; and has a long slim hand. She never has had 
 but one pair of kid gloves, but she's dreadful partic- 
 ular about the way they fit. Her hand sort of gives 
 in and squeezes up. Allie's smaller, but it's broader 
 across than Loo's, and her fingers don't run to such 
 a fine point. She's had several pairs ; and I notice 
 she gets black ones most always, but I think she'd 
 like those pale sort of pinky-gray ones." 
 
 "The lavender?" 
 
 " Yes, if that's what you call it. And some awful 
 long black ones for Loo." 
 
io2 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 I may mention here that Jack came to grief on 
 the presentation of these gloves to Loo. Allie's fitted 
 with a nicety and a perceptible lightening of their 
 color which delighted her heart, and she wore them 
 with great care, keeping them in intervals of disuse 
 in a seal-skin glove-box, presented by Joslyn Green- 
 off. But the tips of Loo's long black gloves hung off 
 her fingers like eagle-claws. Her slight hand roamed 
 around in them and found no rest, and she saw, 
 through tears of vexation, that they were sevens and 
 a half ! Jack didn't mind in the least when she ran 
 and cuffed him with them ; but declared he had 
 described her accurately at the glove counter, and 
 the clerk asked if she was that young person gener- 
 ally known as the Cardiff giantess ! 
 
 Disposing of his parcels around his person, Jack 
 now wandered off up Vine street j and here he found 
 the bronze Woman of the Fountain, standing above 
 the esplanade and shedding from her out-stretched 
 hands continuous sprays of blessings. He never 
 had seen anything so beautiful. He walked all 
 around the square to see her from every point. He 
 approached the great fountain and examined every 
 figure surrounding it. The child dancing by its 
 mother's side and holding up joyful hands to catch 
 the rain-drip from above, the boy riding the dolphin, 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall. 103 
 
 the old man in a toga not one piece of the groups 
 escaped him. 
 
 " My goodness ! I wish Arty and the rest could 
 look at it ! 'Twould fill all our front yard and the 
 grove. And there she stands, winter and summer. 
 I bet the ragged young ones like to come out and 
 look at her. Seems as if she was mothering every- 
 body in town. O, you pretty thing ! It would spoil 
 me to live here. I'd want to get on a rail and watch 
 you from morning till night; and then who'd sweep 
 out the depot, and take the market reports, and help 
 Mr. Joyce ! " 
 
 Speaking of rails made him look around to see if 
 there were any ; but the only ones to be seen were 
 street-car rails. A little car drawn by two jaded 
 horses came jingling along, and reminded Jack that 
 he meant to try the street-cars and hadn't done it 
 yet. The red vehicle stopped on a crossing and 
 Jack bounced in. After it started it seemed to 
 travel on elbow roads, and went just opposite the 
 direction Jack thought he was taking. Still his 
 bump of locality was full, and he was not afraid of 
 getting lost. He crossed a canal bridge and the 
 aspect of the city changed, the road grew steep \ 
 and on each side of it stood up the quaintest build- 
 ings, with galleries hung on the outside far up in the 
 
io4 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 air, and nearly every name above the store doors 
 was in German. It was the German part of the old 
 city where good foreigners and their children keep 
 up the good ways of Vaderlandt, and nothing is 
 changed from generation to generation. When Jack 
 paid his fare, with great shrewdness and business 
 dispatch, he asked for a " round trip ticket and how 
 far the road went ? " 
 
 " Going up the incline ? " inquired the conductor. 
 
 "The what?" 
 
 "Why, the inclined plane there it is." 
 
 Jack looked in the direction indicated and saw a 
 railroad in the air, with its terminus at the top of 
 what seemed to his prairie-accustomed eyes a very 
 high hill. There seemed to be a double track ; and 
 up one a black speck was sliding, and down the 
 other came a similar black speck. 
 
 "Do folks go up and down that thing? " thought 
 he. "I'm going to try it if the rest do." So he 
 said " Yes, up the incline," pocketed his ticket, and 
 watched his destination with rather a shaky heart as 
 he neared it. 
 
 The car paused, another horse was added, and 
 these tugged the load up to a small house, which 
 seemed to be the " Inclined Plane " station. The full 
 car was soon emptied and Jack followed his compan- 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall. 105 
 
 ions into the station, where a man tore off a coupon 
 from his ticket and put him into an open door which 
 seemed to give entrance to another street-car. A 
 signal sounded two or three times, then the door was 
 shut and locked, and Jack felt the sensation of rising in 
 the world. The people appeared perfectly calm ; win- 
 dows were open all around. Jack crowded upon 
 the front platform and saw that a cable of iron wire 
 was drawing them up ; and down came the other car 
 rushing past them ! The roar of the engine on the 
 hill filled his ears ; and how nimbly that cable ser- 
 pent leaped over the revolving grooves of wood which 
 made its path. He grabbed his hat with both fists to 
 keep it from skurrying away on the wind, and wanted 
 to yell with delight. The great city with its mantle 
 of smoke drawn over its head, its spires glinting, its 
 river shining away to the south, rolled out below him. 
 Too soon was it over. The car went more slowly 
 it drew up to its station a man waiting there 
 clicked the door open and the people poured out. 
 
 " I've got the trip back, though," thought Jack. So 
 he delayed that ecstasy, wandering around the build- 
 ing, and looking down a circular hole at the station- 
 ary engine which worked the cars up and down the 
 " Incline." Having still a coupon of his ticket left, 
 he explored Mt. Auburn Street, and gazed upon its 
 
106 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 various residences with approval ; also upon its airy 
 height and untarnished greenness. 
 
 "This is a very fine place for women," thought 
 Jack. " I wish all our girls lived in that house with 
 the slim pillars and such a lot of porches ! Come to 
 think, maybe they'd like this cunnin' place all over 
 vines best. But, as for me, I like to live down in 
 town right in the middle of everything. I don't mind 
 the suit ; but Loo and Allie would make a dreadful 
 fuss about the washing down there." 
 
 He reached the terminus of the road and took a 
 ticket back ; and it is a fact, which Jack was after- 
 wards ashamed to own to his family, that he spent 
 a long time whizzing up and down that " Incline." 
 
 When he returned to the St. Nicholas it was long 
 past two ; but a waiter, who had evidently been set 
 to watch for him, beckoned and placed him at a 
 table. 
 
 Very different from his sensations, as he sat with 
 just such a luxurious dinner before him as a boy 
 likes, and an attentive man at his elbow to help him 
 to what he couldn't reach, were the sensations of 
 Rome and Remus as they fastened the front door of 
 the Dogberry house and started off with Jacey Dixon. 
 
 Jacey lopped along, sawing from side to side in his 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall 107 
 
 accustomed lazy way, his hands buried deep in his 
 pantaloons pockets, but whether to support his pants 
 or his hands nobody could ever decide. He never 
 had suspenders, but tied a tow string around his waist. 
 He was a very light-eyed youth, about the twins' 
 age ; hollow in the chest, hollow in the temples, and 
 very lean-limbed. He had an active imagination, 
 and a great love for the marvelous and startling. 
 
 The three trotted down a slope which led to a 
 deep ravine west of Old Town. As they sunk into 
 this valley it was easy to see toward what point they 
 were making. Here stood what had once been a 
 tannery, a weather-beaten old frame which all the 
 children considered " booggerish ! " not only because 
 it looked deserted, and was full of old tan-vats into 
 which one might fall and be drowned, but because, 
 also, Billy Greer lived there, the terror of New Town 
 children after dusk. 
 
 He was a rag-picker of strange habits. Bent 
 half double, with his great sack on his back, he grov- 
 elled over New and Old Towns picking up shreds 
 and trash. He made monthly journeys to other 
 places, either to dispose of his pickings or add to his 
 treasures. Danport was known to be one of his 
 beats, the twelve intervening miles being nothing to 
 Billy Greer. In the daytime, when he jabbered around 
 
io8 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 the gutters, many boys were rude to him, and, conse- 
 quently, in the dark they respected him. Billy, in 
 his personal appearance, was a sight that made small 
 children cry. He was not social, and desired to 
 reside undisturbed in his mansion the tannery. 
 
 " I wish the sun wouldn't shine so ! " cried Maude 
 warm and excited, " or else that I'd brought a para- 
 sol. Why can't the sun carry an umbrella ? Look 
 at those three or four great big clouds standing 
 round the sky doing nothing, when they might be 
 shading us I " 
 
 " I think," said Jacey solemnly, ' you'd better be 
 thinking about your little brother down in this here 
 cannery ! " 
 
 " What do you b'leeve Billy Greer'd do with him 
 if he had him ? " inquired Rheem, in a voice which 
 betrayed his doubt of Billy's having him. 
 
 "What do I b'leeve he'd do with him? W'y, I 
 b'leeve he'd put him in a vat and tan him as black 
 as leather and then sell him ! " 
 
 " But Arty'd drown ! " shuddered Maude. 
 
 " And who'd he sell him to ? " 
 
 " W'y, to those Italians with harps and fiddles, or 
 the gipsies. There was a woman came to our house 
 and she wanted to stay all night, and she had seven 
 children. Some was boys and some was girls, and 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twim Fall. 109 
 
 some was bigger ones ! And she had a hand-cart 
 and there was a bar'l in it. I thought they looked 
 sort of funny ; some was light brown, and some was 
 coffee-color, and some was purty nigh black. So in 
 the night I heard her call them up, and I got up, too, 
 and watched. And she'd ketch one by the hair of 
 the head and dip him in the bar'l, and he'd come out 
 all clrippin' with somethin' like ink ; then she'd ketch 
 another and dip him. The girls they cried, but the 
 boys never said * boo ' ; but one, he got his mouth 
 full and sputtered it out, and \ was squattin' right 
 behind the bar'l and it hit me on the head. There's 
 a black spot on my head yit. " 
 
 Jacey pulled off his cap and offered his scalp for 
 inspection ; but there were so many black spots it 
 was difficult to say where the dye marked him. 
 
 "That scared me so I crept off. But next 
 mornin' I said to the woman when she started : 
 ' Missis, what you got in that bar'l ? ' and she says, 
 ' Brine for pickles. I'm gatherin' pickles to sell.' 
 And then I knew she'd stole the children and was 
 a-colorin' them for the gipsies or Italians." 
 
 Rome's hair bristled, but Remus said : 
 
 " I don't believe that ! " 
 
 " Well, you needn't," retorted Jacey doggedly, 
 "but I can show you the very room where the 
 
no The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 woman slept ! I ain't goin' no farther. I don't want 
 Billy Greer to know I told you he had Arty." 
 " When did you see him with Arty ? " 
 '* Didn't I see Arty's little linen dress stickin' out 
 of his bundle ? And last night, when I come along 
 a-past the tannery, I heard the mournfullest noise 
 that ever was, like somebody about Arty's size was 
 gittin* whaled to death ; and I crept up close to the 
 house and laid my ear close to the ground, and 
 heard old Billy trampin' round among the vats, and 
 every little bit I could hear the licks and then a 
 sousin' like he was dippin' the little fellow again. \ 
 bet his skin'll be so black you won't know him by 
 this time ! " 
 
 Credulous as Rome and Remus naturally were, 
 and much as their curdling blood resented such a 
 state of things, they could not quite credit all Jacey 
 said, and halted to parley further with him, when a 
 sound rose from the tannery which turned the burn- 
 ing afternoon into a nightmare. Jacey took to his 
 heels, but the shriek which drove him drew the 
 twins, trembling but decided, straight to the low tan- 
 nery door. Remus knocked with all his might and 
 then kicked with his boot. A humming and purring 
 inside ceased. Remus doubled his knocks. The 
 door opened so suddenly that he precipitated himself 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall, in 
 
 into the room while kicking it, and, in a wink 
 Maude was whisked in also by the collar of her 
 apron. The strong door banged to, and Billy Greer 
 stood over them, like some great giant, in the twi- 
 light. It was never light in there. 
 
 " I want my little brother ! " said Remus, with 
 some little defiance left. 
 
 Billy stooped down and looked at the boy and 
 girl. He drew his mouth around one side of his 
 face almost to his ear ; then he let go there and drew 
 it to the other ear ; then he opened it like a cavern 
 and advanced on the cowering twins. Rome began 
 to scream at the top of her voice ; but Rheem only 
 stepped back, turning pale, and taking care to keep 
 his arm before his sister. 
 
 "You can't scare mel" he declared in a trembling 
 tone. " You tell us where Arty is or we'll go off 
 and raise the town ! " 
 
 It seemed likely that they would go off! 
 
 The boy's defiance roused the giant of this cas- 
 tle to greater exhibitions of rage. He began to chop 
 his teeth, these being large and powerful, with a reg- 
 ular clip which reduced even Remus to a whimper. 
 Then he grabbed them both again and dragged them 
 between two piles of rags he was sorting. These 
 unfortunate children might as well have been in a 
 
ii2 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 wild beast's den as in the grip of this strange 
 creature. He had not spoken a word to them ; but 
 now, as he raked a covering of boards aside with his 
 foot, he uttered a prolonged, triumphant yell. Rome 
 and Remus joined in fully, but with different feel- 
 ings ; for in the earthen floor he uncoverd a tan- 
 vat, and they looked down into it, seeing the brown- 
 ish, horrid liquid about to swallow them up. 
 
 Plunge ! 
 
 Rheem landed still struggling, but Maude fell 
 unconscious. 
 
 Why, the vat was dry ! There was nothing in it 
 except heaps and heaps of rags, ill-smelling, but 
 not so choking as water. The children caught their 
 breath. The boards were replaced over their heads. 
 Billy had shut them in. They grabbed hold of each 
 other to be stayed and twin-supported in that dread- 
 ful place. 
 
 " Don't be scared, Rome," whispered Remus, " I 
 ain't going to let him do anything more with us." 
 
 Between the cracks of the boards now came a 
 sound more blood curdling than anything before 
 of Billy cracking his jaws and grinding his teeth, and 
 saying unctuously as if he could hardly wait to 
 finish his work before he tasted them 
 
 " I love you ! O, I love you ! How I love you ! " 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall. 113 
 
 " Do you think he's chopped Arty up ? " sobbed 
 Rome under her breath. 
 
 "Po h! No. Heda'sn't!" 
 
 " But where is Arty ? " 
 
 "Well, I shouldn't wonder if he threw him down 
 here. When Jace was talkin' I didn't more than 
 half believe he'd got Arty, but now I believe he 
 has." 
 
 " How I love you ! " gritted Billy at regular inter- 
 vals, bending to the rags he sorted. 
 
 The twins grovelled among the rags in the vat. 
 It was not a fragrant work. Dust rose and nearly 
 stifled them ; but still with the energy of desperation 
 they poked and dug, and felt down deeper and 
 deeper for the missing baby. 
 
 * Rheem, why doesn't he cry? " 
 
 " Like's not he's pretty near choked this is 
 enough to do it ! Or, maybe he's asleep." 
 
 Rome put her face down among the nauseating 
 rags and projected through them : 
 
 " Arty ! " 
 
 Remus did likewise : 
 
 " Arty ! " 
 
 Duet and chorus : 
 
 " Arty ! you down there ? '* 
 
 " Say, Arty ! Rheemie's here ! " 
 
ii4 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 11 Arty, O, Arty ! Arte e - e ! " in a long, cau- 
 tious, whispered cry. 
 
 " I believe he is dead ! " whimpered Maude. 
 
 " Feel and poke 'round," urged Remus, " till we hit 
 something." 
 
 " How I love you ! How I love you ! " howled 
 Billy. 
 
 " Rome, there's something hard down there ! " 
 
 " Way under the pile ? O, pull it out quick ! " 
 
 "I can't get hold! I can just touch it with the 
 end of my foot ! " 
 
 " Let's make the hole bigger and go down in it." 
 
 They made the dust fly like two young war-horses, 
 sneezed, choked, but continued to dig until Remus 
 pulled up a box in his hands. It was not heavy, but 
 it weighed like lead on the children's little hands, 
 and was evidently made of very strong wood. They 
 felt its angles and knobs, and tried without sight to 
 estimate its size. 
 
 "'Tain't as long as Arty," whimpered Maude, 
 betraying her unspoken fear. 
 
 " What are these round-headed nails on top ? " 
 
 " Run your finger over 'em." 
 
 "They're letters." 
 
 " What letters ? " 
 
 " I can't find out." 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall. 115 
 
 " Let me try." 
 
 Remus investigated thoroughly with his fingers. 
 
 " A. D. That's what they are, A. D." 
 
 At this Rome very nearly broke into a howl. 
 
 " Oh, Rheemie ! A. D. stands for Arty's name ; 
 Arty Dogberry ! Oh, he's put him in here and put 
 his name on it ! " wept Maude, with the clear and log- 
 ical convictions of childhood. 
 
 " O, po hi " begun her twin though his chin was 
 shaking. 
 
 Outside, however, an interruption was begun which 
 caused them to listen with their breath in their teeth. 
 A heavy hand and persuasive foot was at work on 
 the tannery door. 
 
 " Come, I want to see you, Billy," said John 
 White. John White was always coming to the res- 
 cue of the Dogberry Bunch in one way or another. 
 This second interruption at his work made Billy 
 Greer so furious, he would have harmed the stock- 
 farmer if it were possible. He rushed out at John 
 shaking his fists and uttering rapid words. 
 
 " O, come, now, Billy, 1 know you get teased and 
 touzled, but you must know your friends from your 
 foes. Quiet down, now. All I want is the children 
 in here. Where did you store them ? " 
 
 Doubling in his accustomed attitude, and docile 
 
n6 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 under the sane sound man's control, old Billy Greer 
 at once conducted him between the piles of rags to 
 the tan-vat. 
 
 " Nice roomy place you've got for your business," 
 remarked John, glancing up the dim walls, cobwebby 
 and smoked. 
 
 Billy removed the boards from the vat and the 
 heads and shoulders of the terrified twins appeared. 
 
 " O, pshaw, now ! " said John with disapproval. 
 " Tut, tut, man ! this won't do. Don't play tricks on 
 such little codgers. Come, reach up, young ones." 
 
 " Make him tell where Arty is," said Rheem, when 
 his twin and he were out of the vat. Maude still 
 held the lettered box under her apron. Mr. White 
 lifted her out by taking hold of her shoulders. She 
 hid behind him and carried the box, convinced 
 strongly that she had some clue to Arty in it. 
 
 " Have you anybody else bottled under ground ? " 
 inquired John. 
 
 Billy Greer earnestly protested that he had not. 
 The children ran as fast as they could when they saw 
 the daylight, and John walked out after them laugh- 
 ing. They were still confused and half-smothered by 
 the rag heap ; and Maude forgot everything but the 
 instinct of flight, even with John White to guard the 
 
In Which Jack Rises And The Twins Fall. 117 
 
 rear, until she fell up-hill and the box was brought 
 to sight as well as memory. 
 
 " We're obliged to you, Mr. White," said Remus, 
 dropping back with more regard for appearances. 
 " How did you know he had us in there ? " 
 
 " Jacey Dixon came tearing up to me, and told me 
 you and your little better part had gone to Billy's to 
 hunt for Arty, and Billy came out with an ax and cut 
 you both in half, and was splitting you into fine kind- 
 ling while he came for help." 
 
 "Well, he was pretty rough. I didn't mind much, 
 but I hated to have him frighten Maude." 
 
 " Hold on, little Dogberry," called John as he saw 
 Rome sprawl, " the danger's all over. I guess you 
 two had better go home with me to Priscilla, and let 
 her put you in the smoke-house and fumigate you 
 with something to sweeten that pest-rag smell you 
 got in Billy's vat." 
 
 Rome looked into John White's face as Remus 
 helped her up. His countenance reminded one of a 
 turnpike of granite. No down there. He was never 
 known to wear a beard ; but mica-like sparkles of 
 fun and good-will shone over it. She thought he was 
 the best looking and pleasantest man in town ! 
 
 " If you haven't brought that box! " cried Rbeem. 
 
 " What box ? " asked John. 
 
n8 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " The one we dug up in that vat. Maude's 
 brought it with her." 
 
 Maude dared not own the secret convictions 
 which made her bring it; so she stood trembling and 
 wiping the dust of Billy's heap from nose, eyes and 
 ears, with her long apron, while John White picked 
 up the box and looked at it curiously. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GATHERING OF THE CLAN. 
 
 SOME people are always having adventures, 
 They find what nobody else does ; or they go 
 on a journey and miss a train, to mount some delight- 
 ful train of odd happenings. But Loo was not an 
 individual to whose lot adventures fall. She really 
 did not like unusual occurrences. So, wandering 
 about the streets of Carver City until it was time to 
 take the return train, she was not preyed upon or 
 smashed ; nor did she encounter any rich old rela- 
 
 119 
 
120 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 tive, who, looking upon her sweet, womanly, young 
 face with favor, decided to make her his heiress. 
 The only face she recognized among hundreds of 
 strangers was that of Lawyer McKay, the Bunch's 
 guardian. 
 
The Gathering Of The Clan. 121 
 
 Loo was standing outside a bookstore, looking at 
 prints in the window, and occasionally wiping a tear 
 off her pensive nose, when a hearty voice beside her 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " Well, Lucy, how do you do ? The other children 
 with you ? " 
 
 She looked up and gave her hand to Mr. McKay. 
 
 " No, sir. I came alone." 
 
 " Crying ? What's the matter, child ? Anything 
 wrong at home ? Were you going to my office ? " 
 
 This gentleman was an old friend of the family. 
 A man grizzled and brisk and talented. The first 
 jurist in his county, and second only to the President 
 in the eyes of the Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 It did not take him long to gather from Loo what 
 had happened. He looked at his watch, thought a 
 moment, and then told her he would go back home 
 with her. 
 
 So Lucy came on the afternoon train, just as she 
 expected to do, and with her came the guardian. 
 
 Dogberrydom stood brown and still in the even- 
 ing sunshine, meditating about its emptiness. I 
 suppose the little old house said : 
 
 " Where are all my children ? Are the boys at 
 4ferk ? Is sweet Alice in the school-room ? But 
 Lucy's feet do not pat about, and I cannot see Rome 
 
122 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 and Arty on the croquet field. I don't like this. 
 Come home, young ones ! I shall die without some 
 life in me ! Why, this is a pretty way to treat your 
 old home, that has sheltered you since you could 
 chipper ! Here's a strange cat sneaking along one 
 of my back window sills, to find a broken pane and 
 get into the cupboard. I don't believe I , could 
 stand this all night. I want to hear your little noses 
 snoring. You haven't gone off to stay, have you ? 
 I'd willingly have my roof raised by a good noise ; 
 though in times past I did complain that you shook 
 me considerably." 
 
 Now, to the old house's joy, Ben and Alice drove 
 up to the fence, and, tying Thomas' sorrel, hastened 
 up the lawn. 
 
 "Why, the door's locked, Allie ! " exclaimed Ben, 
 trying it. They felt for the key on a nail under the 
 step (this was a family secret), and entered. 
 
 We ell!" breathed Alice, slowly, looking 
 around the silent and empty place, " where are the 
 children ? " 
 
 " That's what I want to know ! " cried Jack, burst- 
 ing in from the station where he had just arrived. 
 " Where's Arty ? Has he been found, yet ? " 
 
 " Yes, he has," said Alice, hugging Jack and shak- 
 ing hands with him. " And you're a nice boy to get 
 
The Gathering Of The Clan. 123 
 
 carried off while you are in bed, and travel all over 
 the country without a clean shirt on ! " 
 
 "Where have you been?" inquired the older 
 brother, pumping Jack's hand. 
 
 Pat, pat, came a pair of shoes and a pair of boots 
 on the steps, and Rome and Remus, with their brass- 
 nailed box, scampered in. 
 
 " Why, here's Jack ! " 
 
 " And Ben and Allie ! " 
 
 "Where's Arty?" 
 
 A Babel of sounds now ensued. 
 
 " Arty is in Danport ! " " Where you been ? " 
 " Billy Greer put us in a tan vat ! " " In Cincin- 
 nati!" "Was he hurt badly?" "No, only 
 bruised ! He was run over ! He is at Mrs. Green- 
 ofl's ! We'll bring him home in a day or two ! " "I 
 had a splendid time, and you can't guess what I've 
 got for you ! " " O, I'm so glad the baby is safe ! " 
 " What's that box you put on the table, Maudie ? " 
 "My gracious! what a noise! Don't; we'll raise 
 the neighbors ! " " Seems like we'd been gone a 
 year ! " " We've all been seekin' our fortunes ! " 
 "Whew! Allie, where did you get that big gold 
 chain ? " " Why, where's Loo ? " 
 
 "There's a new candidate coming before this con- 
 vention ! " shouted John White, looking in from the 
 

 124 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 stoop. " It's your gardeen. Lawyer McKay. Quiet 
 down, or he might get a hickory and lick a few of 
 you." 
 
 The Berries, now re-assembled, ran to the door 
 and met their guardian and Lucy there. 
 
 "Any news from the baby ? " he inquired directly. 
 
 With irrepressible eagerness they began all talk- 
 ing together again, when John White stuck his fin- 
 gers in his ears and took a leap off the stoop. 
 
 " That's what I came in to ask," he cried. " I 
 saw the horse and buggy tied down here. But you 
 might as well go to ask the time of day of Niagara 
 Falls ! " 
 
 Ben grabbed a crayon of chalk from his 1 pocket, 
 and made a bulletin board of the front door, chalk- 
 ing out : 
 
 " ARTY 
 
 IS 
 
 FOUND ! " 
 
 " Where did you find him ? " inquired Mr. McKay, 
 moving like oil among the troubled waters. 
 
 Ben and Allie related their experience. 
 
 " We sent a letter," they added, " and thought the 
 children would know all about it by this time j but 
 
The Gathering Of The Clan. 125 
 
 I guess they all ran off and forgot to go to the post- 
 office." 
 
 " Didn't Maude and Rheem stay here ? " inquired 
 Lucy. 
 
 " I guess we didn't /" the twins hastened to assure 
 their friends, " when we thought old Billy Greer had 
 Aity, dipping him in tan-dye to make him a little 
 gipsy ! Jacey Dixon said so ! " 
 
 " And we went right down there ! " 
 
 " And he grabbed us and put us into a hole among 
 the rags ! " 
 
 " And he gritted his teeth and said he loved us ! " 
 
 " I bet you'd never seen us again, if it hadn't 
 been for Mr. White ! " 
 
 " My goodness ! what children ! " murmured Alice. 
 " Haven't I told you many a time not to go with 
 Jacey Dixon, and to stay away from Billy Greer's old 
 tan-house ? " So she embraced them, and wiped the 
 dust off their noses. 
 
 " We'll have to go back there and take this box to 
 Billy," said Rheem. 
 
 The lawyer picked up the box. It was of mahog- 
 any. There was a key-hole in one side. He took a 
 key out of his pocket and opened it. To save their 
 lives the Bunch could not help huddling just a little 
 nearer to see what might be in it. Mr. McKay took 
 
126 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 out one paper after another, examining them sharply 
 as he did so. 
 
 " Where did you get this box ? " 
 
 Rome, being constrained by her lawful guardian, 
 was obliged to stand up and confess. She told why 
 she brought it, and Rheem added to her testimony, 
 as to where they found it. 
 
 " Well, I have taken a lucky trip, to-day ! " said 
 Lawyer McKay. "The Durand heirs have been 
 searching for this very box, two years and a half. 
 Whether the rag-picker stole it, or it was carelessly 
 thrown out in his way, it is a treasure to them. 
 Here are deeds and bonds worth thousands of dol- 
 lars to the heirs. And I will see that you haven't 
 marched on Billy and fought and suffered for noth- 
 ing!" 
 
 " Mr. McKay ! " cried Jack, who could keep back 
 his own bonanza no longer, " look at that ! " 
 
 Guardian looked at it. It was a cheque for a hun- 
 dred dollars. 
 
 "I'd better invest it, hadn't I?" bustled Jack. 
 " And they gave me ten more, besides. But I don't 
 think half as much of that as I do of what the agent 
 said about the company's promotin' me right along ! 
 And it was all for nothin', but runnin' a train when 
 another engineer was misbehavin' ! " 
 
The Gathering Of The Clan. 
 
 127 
 
 " These young ones does beat all ! " exclaimed 
 John White, withdrawing himself from the stoop. 
 " You never can tell what they'll be up to, next ; and 
 throw 'em in, deep as you please, they always kick 
 out top of the pile .' 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 WHAT THE NEIGHBORS SAID ABOUT IT. 
 
 N 
 
 'OW Mother 
 Darling 
 came running in, 
 with the baby un- 
 der one arm, and 
 a pan of light bis- 
 cuit, wrapped in 
 a sweet, clean 
 napkin, under 
 the other. She 
 thought, as the 
 children had all 
 been wandering, 
 and in such a 
 hurly-burly, the 
 bread might be 
 used up in the 
 bin. Of course she knew Arty was found. Every- 
 body in town knew that by this time. Mother 
 128 
 
 MOTHER DARLING. 
 
What The Neighbors Said About It. 129 
 
 Thomas and the other neighboring women followed 
 in her footsteps. You might have supposed the 
 Bunch were their own children, they mothered them 
 so. 
 
 John White went home about dusk, to his wife 
 Priscilla. His farm lay a mile from the centre of 
 New Town, and, when he was not riding or driving, 
 he could stretch his long legs over that distance with 
 wonderful speed. Priscilla had supper all ready. 
 He could see it on the table through the telescope 
 formed by the porch, the sitting-room and the dining- 
 room. So he went around, at once, to the spring- 
 room, where living water bubbled out of a pepper- 
 mint-surrounded spot, and flowed away through a 
 stone trough, and where clean towels and clean 
 basins always abounded, and washed his hands and 
 face ready for the evening meal. He came to the 
 dining-room door as Priscilla emptied her hot spiced 
 cookies from a pan, and, while he rubbed his wet 
 hair into dry bristles, he said : 
 
 " They've found the little fellow, Priscilla." 
 
 Priscilla knew immediately whom he meant. 
 
 They had no children at their house, and she was 
 
 not as much interested in the Dogberrys as John ; 
 
 bi t she had a habit of knowing what John meant,. 
 
130 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 every time he used pronouns referring to people 
 whom he had not mentioned before. 
 
 "Yes, I s'posed they would find him," said Pris- 
 cilla. " He wasn't hurt any way, was he ? " 
 
 " Sound as a dollar, except a little bruising. They 
 found him over at Danport with some of their old 
 kin-folks. Seems that he ran off by himself." 
 
 " Did they bring him home ? " 
 
 "No, they haven't brought him yet. But the rest 
 are all there, yelling and prancing like so many 
 cats. Jack's had big adventures ; and the two young 
 ones went down to Billy Greer's and hauled up some 
 old deeds that Lawyer McKay says are worth a pile 
 o' money." 
 
 " It isn't their money, is it ? " 
 
 " No. It belongs to some heirs by the name of 
 Durand ; but I s'pose they'll get something for it, 
 though I don't know whether they'll take it or not, 
 the whole tribe are such independent little things. 
 I lent Ben ten dollars to go to Danport with, and he 
 brought back the same bills, and asked the favor of 
 doin' a little job for nothin' for me sometime, to 
 show his gratitude ! " 
 
 "Well," said Priscilla, "sit down, and let's have 
 supper." 
 
 About the same time, Mr. Thomas was blinking 
 
What The Neighbors Said About It. 131 
 
 weakly across the table at his wife, while she gave 
 him " the particulars " of the news. 
 
 Comment by Mr. Thomas, made with a melan- 
 choly sigh : 
 
 " Well, it's better to be born lucky than rich, they 
 say, and I s'pose them children was born lucky. 
 Ours wouldn't fare that way, I know." 
 
 " Don't call it luck ! " says Mother Thomas, ener- 
 getically. " It's only that children without fathers 
 and mothers is seen to, that's all. And I believe ours 
 would fare just as well if we was to die and they 
 behaved themselves." 
 
 " Then, we'd better die," sighed Father Thomas. 
 "They'd be better off!" 
 
 " Well, I'm goin' to mother my own as long as I 
 can," laughed she, " and when I'm gone, then it'll be 
 somebody else's turn." 
 
 " I think if their rich relations has lived within 
 twelve miles of ' em ever since they came home from 
 Yerrup, three or four years ago, and hasn't took any 
 notice of them till now, they didn't want to see them 
 very bad," continued Father Thomas, lucidly. 
 
 " O, pshaw, now ! poor folks ain't such a takin' 
 sight that they're to be run after. They say people 
 live all their lives just a little ways from Niagara 
 Falls, or the big mountains, and never go to see 
 
132 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 them, just because they can do it anytime. And 
 'tisn't much wonder they let relations alone that 
 they've hardly ever seen, and take no sort of interest 
 in. These folks seem to like the children, now that 
 they've sort of been forced to notice them." 
 
 " The children won't get any money from that fam- 
 ily, though." 
 
 "Well, do they want it?" cried Mother Thomas, 
 impatiently. " The children are doing very well. 
 It's better for them to take care of themselves and 
 learn how, seeing they have to. But it won't hurt 
 'em to have rich friends, and to find out how the 
 rest of the world, outside of their own town, lives." 
 
 " It'll spoil 'em." 
 
 "Well, then, they'll have to get unspoiled again, 
 if they're so simple as that ! " 
 
 Jacey Dixon, who came in the evening and jumped 
 astride the Dogberry gate-post, and whistled the 
 reluctant Rheem down the lawn, viewed the recent 
 circumstances in an Oriental light ; his painted fan- 
 cies rising cloud-capped to the very skies. 
 
 " You got us into a pretty scrape, telling us Arty 
 was down there ! " began Remus, indignantly, as 
 soon as he came within talking distance of the 
 whistler. 
 
 " Yes, 1 sh'd think I did ! I wisht I'd gone in 
 
What The Neighbors Said About It. 133' 
 
 myself! And I would, too, if I'd known old Billy 
 had a box full o' money there, savin' up for anybody 
 that wanted it ! I heard you got enough to start a 
 bank with, and was going in partners with your other 
 rich relations ! " 
 
 "O, pshaw!" snuffed Rheem. 
 
 " Is it so, that Allie brought home a gold watch 
 apiece for every one of you ? I heard, too, that 
 Jack was goin' to be President of the railroad, and 
 give you all free passes for the rest of your lives." 
 
 " Who tells such things ? " cried Remus. 
 
 " Well, I wish't somebody would adopt me and 
 take me to Yerrup, like they say them folks in Dan- 
 port is goin' to do all you ! Lemmy see your 
 watches ! Hain't you got a little one you don't 
 want ? " 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL CHILDREN. 
 
 NE other trip was made to Dan- 
 port before Arty came home. 
 But at last he was brought 
 in the Greenoff carnage, in 
 Mrs. Tucker's charge and 
 under the general guardian- 
 ship of Joslyn, who was to 
 stop a day or two with the 
 Bunch. Mrs. Tucker went 
 back in the carriage covered 
 with thanks and smiles, and the Berries all clustered 
 around their baby and their strange cousin. Joslyn 
 examined each critically, but with sympathetic enthu- 
 siasm. Mrs. Wiley had sent her love to her favorite 
 Allie ; his mother a note to her favorite Ben. Jack, 
 as a young traveller, was ready to affiliate with their 
 134 
 
The Cathedral Children. 135 
 
 travelled guest, and the younger children were not 
 shy of him after they saw Arty galloping over him. 
 
 Arthur was a trifle more of a despot, being 
 humored so much by his nurse ; but he sat upon the 
 rocking-horse Jacky brought him, and rejoiced 
 greatly to be home once more. 
 
 Lucy and Alice got into a corner of the kitchen 
 and consulted together after this great arrival. The 
 outcome of their mingled wisdom was such a supper 
 as taxed the deepest resources of Dogberrydom. As 
 to lodging, that was easily arranged. They gave up 
 their own room to the guest, and went up-stairs to 
 the boys' room, while the boys adjourned to the 
 barn. 
 
 It was another Saturday night, but the June 
 weather suddenly changed with one of the freaks of 
 this northern climate. The air took a cold chill ; 
 the clouds huddled together and rained a sleet-like 
 drizzle ; and at dusk a howling wind came down 
 from the north and shook everybody's house about 
 his ears. It was November in the heart of summer. 
 Mother -Darling, when Loo, with a shawl over her 
 head, ran to take her the neighborly compliment of 
 a plate of their best baking for company, bewailed 
 her doctor's being out in such a night, for every- 
 body else in New Town huddled in-doors. 
 
136 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Ben made a wood fire in the open Franklin stove, 
 which stood in one corner of the sitting-room ; and 
 Allie pulled the muslin curtains close, resolving to 
 send all the extra comforters out with the boys when 
 they retired. Jack and Rome and Remus studied 
 the brilliant Joslyn, who sat in a stuffed arm-chair 
 before the fire with Arty on his foot. The perfume 
 of the supper the girls were preparing came in through 
 the mosquito netting of the kitchen-door. It was 
 delicious comfort ; yet it put Joslyn in mind of noth- 
 ing he had ever experienced before. Everything was 
 so homely, yet so what Wiley, his grandmother's 
 Irishwoman, would call "heartsome." The atmos- 
 phere of the house suited his spiritual lungs better 
 than the atmosphere at home. Here were so many 
 boys and girls, loving and needing each other so 
 truly, yet with so little dribble of sentiment ! Here 
 were such possibilities, and such needs to develop 
 them ! Who could tell what might work out of this 
 little brown house ! The mysteries of the 'Socia- 
 tion, revealed for his financial judgment, shook him 
 with pleasant laughter. Yet he saw, in the bank of 
 three dollars and odd cents, a great power, a sort of 
 collar clasping into one all the Dogberry necks. 
 
 Rome and Remus brought out their corn-popper 
 and their pop-corn; their tongues and Jack's kept 
 
The Cathedral Children. 137 
 
 popping, too. And Arthur, on Joslyn's boot, popped 
 laboriously, but conscientiously, into the conversa- 
 tion, to entertain their guest with such apropos 
 remarks as : 
 
 "Old engines go 'chug, chug, chug,' when 'ey 
 draw trains ! " 
 
 And, 
 
 " Jacky an' I feed ve other pigs when 'ey in the 
 pen!" 
 
 Or else, with visions of his favorite story, " The 
 Three Bears," floating before his mind, he dabbed 
 out a sketch : 
 
 "An' 'ere 'ey stood with 'ey gloves on, an' 'ey par- 
 'sols in 'ey hands, an' Big Bear says, * Who's been 
 eatin' my porridge ! ' ' 
 
 " You're an odd little old gentleman, aren't you ? " 
 said Joslyn, looking down at the baby's glinting hair, 
 big velvety eyes, and three-cornered, elfish face. 
 "You pursue your own lines of thought undis- 
 turbed by the rest of the world. I wonder now, 
 really, that they fitted that golden-colored wig on 
 such an elderly person. Perhaps it was the largest 
 one they had, however, and the only one that would 
 stretch over that full cranium. Take it off and let 
 us examine it," said Joslyn, bending forward and tak- 
 ing hold of Arty's scalp-lock. 
 
138 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " It's fast ! " protested Arty, staring at the young 
 gentleman. 
 
 " Humph ! now don't try to impose on us. Don't 
 you wear a wig ? " 
 
 " Cousin Jos'n says I wear a wig ! " said Arty, 
 staring aside at his brothers and sisters. 
 
 "And, while you are about it," pursued Joslyn 
 " let us examine that glass eye of yours, and these 
 india-rubber ears that are such a fine imitation ! 
 Just look at the curves and lines cf these ears. 
 They are as natural as life ! " 
 
 " My eye ain't glass /" protested Arty. 
 
 "You'll be claiming next that you haven't a cork 
 leg! and that this nose of yours doesn't come off! 
 Pull it off and let us see how it is made. Really, 
 you are a very well put up old gentleman ! " 
 
 "It doesn't come off ! " asserted Arty, with bulging 
 eyes. 
 
 " My dear old fellow ! we know all about that. 
 Your work has been done so well that two-thirds of 
 the world suppose you are real. But do you take 
 yourself to pieces when you go to bed? Suppose 
 you should get your leg on in a hurry some morning, 
 so that the foot turned backwards instead of for- 
 wards ! Why, then, one half of you would walk one 
 way and the other half the other way, and you'd tear 
 
The Cathedral Children. 139 
 
 yourself in two ! Now that you show your teeth I 
 must remark that they are a very good set. The 
 lower ones false, too ? " 
 
 " My leg doesn't come off ! " cried Arty, feeling 
 doubtfully one of the little warm limbs which 
 bestrode Joslyn's boot. " You mustn't say 'at ! " 
 
 " O, of course, we'll not say anything to outsiders ; 
 but I really should like to see how you look when 
 you are taken apart and put in glasses of water and 
 hung around on pegs. It is no wonder you ran off 
 to hunt up Jacky, if Jacky is your valet, for you are a 
 helpless old gentleman without him ! " 
 
 " I'll run off 'gain ! " cried Arthur, beginning to 
 feel a personal grievance from these remarks. " I'll 
 let wagons run over me ! " 
 
 " O, that would merely knock you into pieces, and 
 you'd be easily enough put together again. I do 
 wonder, though, at your reckless extravagance in 
 pegging all the way to Danport on that cork leg ! 
 If it had worn down what must have become of 
 you ? " 
 
 "You're real nuglyf" said Arty, now thoroughly 
 on the defensive, and bristling at his teasing senior 
 as boy will bristle against boy. 
 
 "You're a Metempsychosis," laughed Joslyn. 
 Several thousand years ago you were a little trian- 
 
140 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 gle-faced Egyptian, and you used to play hide-and- 
 seek around the pyramids." 
 
 Arthur pondered this. His ear was sensitive to 
 sounds, and the strange name which Joslyn called 
 him pleased it. He told Allie when she put him 
 to bed that he was a 'tempychosis ; but his legs did 
 not come off, and " Cousin Jos'n was just as nugly as 
 nugly could be." 
 
 At the supper table Joslyn was far from ugly. 
 He sat at Alice's right hand and helped her pass the 
 cups, and told so many stories and jokes that the 
 table would have been boisterous if the girls had not 
 been such natural little ladies. 
 
 All the children sat up straight, trying to remem- 
 ber their best manners ; and Allie's eye marked with 
 approval that the twins snuggling together as 
 usual did not smear their napkins or upset their 
 cups, so the very best table linen might last while the 
 guest remained. 
 
 They had a tender chicken, broiled deliciously, 
 and Loo's best biscuit, and old Mott's butter the 
 finest butter of the best old cow in New Town 
 and mother's cut-glass fruit dish, bearing a floating 
 island of honey in an amber sea, and cake in the 
 old-fashioned solid basket which had been Grand- 
 mother Dearborn's, and Loo's master-pieces in 
 
The Cathedral Children. 143 
 
 various jellies, quivering in various lights, and choco- 
 late with a great deal of milk in it for the young 
 ones and finally flowers in a tall vase seeming 
 almost tropical on a night when the wind screamed 
 around all the corners " November ! " The girls 
 knew better than to throw these delicate and tempt- 
 ing dishes helter-skelter on the table, too. Their 
 mother, and their own observations, had trained 
 them to be artists, and Joslyn felt a pleasant thrill, 
 like that which is given by an unexpected harmony 
 in music, as he looked over their arrangement. 
 
 The lively young man was made an hour afterward 
 the key-stone of an arch before the crackling Frank- 
 lin stove. Metempsychosis, on his rocking-horse 
 beside his Jacky, forming one extremity of that arch, 
 and Sweet Alice, fair and pleasant, the other. Rome 
 and Remus so owned his attraction that they 
 allowed him to separate them, and hung on each side 
 of him, and Ben Bolt and Loo sat next to them, on 
 either side. 
 
 The arch said they wished they could see all the 
 countries on the earth ; and the key-stone told them 
 wonderful tales about Spain, and Germany, and Pal- 
 estine, and England, and France, and Switzerland. 
 Their eyes stuck out with delight, and they leaned 
 forward so as almost to destroy the arch, the magnet- 
 ism of the key-stone was so great. 
 
144 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 The arch then said they did wish they could hear 
 some real good music ; and the key-stone said his 
 head was full of music, and it sounded something 
 like this : 
 
 " Once there was a family of seven children, and 
 they lived in a wooden cathedral with gold pillars at 
 the front of it. They had lovely terraces of ivory 
 for their play-ground ; and they had also a very dear 
 friend who frequently called them to this play-ground, 
 and made them and himself happy with exercise. 
 He never thought which one he loved best ; for he 
 could not love one without loving all, and each was 
 different from all his brothers and sisters. If you 
 caught one alone, you knew him from the rest of the 
 family ; yet, at the same time, he never appeared to 
 better advantage than when with the rest. 
 
 " Now the cathedral they lived in was a queer 
 place, full of arches and crannies and shifting cham- 
 bers. But the brothers and sisters had a lovely time 
 in it ; and, though they did not realize it, people by 
 the thousand I might almost say ' an innumerable 
 multitude' came in front of their cathedral house 
 to hear them as they skipped around on the ivory ter- 
 races. For, as they moved, they made harmonies. 
 These they could not hear themselves ; but they 
 moved according to certain laws of their nature, and 
 as their friend led them. 
 
The Cathedral Children. 145 
 
 " These seven cathedral children never had deep 
 disagreements, but gave and took freely among each 
 other ; and the friend, who delighted in playing with 
 them on the ivory terraces, loved them more and 
 more every day of his life. He spent days and 
 months planning a beautiful movement for them. 
 The more he loved them the more he desired to 
 make them give out deeper meanings. 
 
 " There was no jealousy among them. 
 
 " They were well united. 
 
 " They were so unlike that one was necessary to 
 all the rest. 
 
 " But what do you think they did, when their 
 friend brought his majestic movement for them to 
 play ? They hid in the cathedral and eluded him, 
 although he pulled all the door knobs and pounded 
 at the basement. These children shrunk from what 
 was tragic arid sorrowful ; and the friend had to 
 catch them, and pull one at a time upon the terrace, 
 each one wailing in remonstrance. 
 
 " He felt desperately sad, and lay down with his 
 head on the lowest of the ivory terraces. The cathe- 
 dral was very still. You might have heard a mouse 
 gnawing under the basement. The children peeped 
 out at the front and saw, by the dim daylight, that 
 other people beside their master were lingering in 
 
146 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 sight of the cathedral, in a restless or heart-broken 
 way. A lady in black clothes sank down in a large 
 space far below the cathedral and covered her face 
 with her hands. The children could hear her cry in 
 a smothered voice : 
 
 " * Oh, I am dying with pain which still does not 
 kill me ! Oh, my little baby ! your loss strangles my 
 life ! You went out of my sight, and they say you 
 are dead, and I must submit ! I cannot submit ! ' 
 
 " * Poor lady ! ' whispered the children in the cathe- 
 dral, * Can't we comfort her ? ' 
 
 " * What ! with some gay movement ? That would 
 never do ! ' 
 
 " See that ragged little girl slipping in. How 
 eager her face is ! What is she saying ! 
 
 " * O, I wisht and I wisht ! ' said the little girl. 
 ' Sometimes I wisht so bad I can't stand it, but I 
 don't know what it's for, only for better an' better! 
 Mebby I oughtn't to keep a wishin' for what I don't 
 know how to come at, but somehow I can't help 
 it!' 
 
 " ' The poor little creature's soul is waking up and 
 shaking itself, and looking round,' whispered one of 
 the cathedral children. 'O, I wish we could play 
 some movement which would fill her with joy and 
 resolution for the rest of her life ! ' 
 
TRAGIC AND SORROWFUL. 
 
The Cathedral Children. 149 
 
 " * Not one of our most brilliant performances would 
 do that. They are for diversion, for giving pleasure. 
 The master's new movement, which we hated to 
 learn, perhaps would have given us the key of these 
 folks. Now there is a man gnawing his beard and 
 folding his arms. What's wrong with him ? ' 
 
 " * The whole world is a den of selfish thieves/ 
 muttered the man. ' Every fellow preys on his 
 brother. Pooh ! talk about honesty, talk about love ! 
 There is nothing but self-interest! The human race 
 is a very mean race ' 
 
 " ' Ah ! ' cried the cathedral children, shaking 
 their heads. * Nothing brilliant would put better 
 thoughts in that man's mind ! If we knew some- 
 thing which would touch his heart and make it more 
 tender ! Why, how many people there are that we 
 can't touch because we hated to learn any painful 
 lesson 1 ' 
 
 " * Come 1 what's the matter with you ? ' exclaimed 
 a friend of the master's, approaching him. * Call out 
 those children you love so well.' 
 
 '* ' They refuse to follow me through any sorrowful 
 lesson,' sighed the master. 
 
 " ' What ! you, their friend ? ' 
 
 " ' They have been gay and glad. It is natural for 
 
150 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 them to remonstrate against having the sorrow of 
 the world expressed through them.' 
 
 " * O, try them again ! they cannot be so foolish. 
 Do they not know they can be nothing to, and do 
 nothing for, the human race, if they never learn its 
 troubles ? ' 
 
 " The cathedral children's friend raised up his 
 head, and opened the doors again. Then he called 
 with all his power to the children, and they replied 
 to him as they had never done before. Docile and 
 sweet and trembling with earnestness, they did his 
 bidding. They moved on the terraces, calling one 
 to another with a closeness of brotherhood which 
 even the man who despised men felt keenly like 
 a sharp point of truth in a strong parable. They 
 fell down with their faces on their arms, like the 
 bereaved woman; but, above the pain passing 
 through them, their master made them call to God 
 who heals pain. Then they marched on, at first in 
 blind and confusing ways, like those in which the 
 ragged girl was lost ; but a triumphal march grew 
 out of this confusion, and at last they entered a 
 world of such delicious harmony that words can 
 never give it a description. 
 
 " The woman went away. The man went away. 
 The girl went, too. But the cathedral children had 
 
The Cathedral Children. 151 
 
 spoken deep things which were never to be forgot- 
 ten, to these three, and perhaps to many more. The 
 pillars of their great dwelling glittered dimly in the 
 night, and they slept. The gates were shut upon 
 the ivory terraces, and even their friend was gone. 
 But wiser and stronger for having felt and borne 
 part of the woe of the world the seven lay silent in 
 the cathedral ; and the echoes of that movement will 
 stay there as long as the seven children do." 
 
 " Well, that's an odd story ! " remarked Jack, 
 when Joslyn stopped speaking. 
 
 "Tell ' Three Bears,' " suggested Arthur, fixing on 
 an entertainment more to his mind. 
 
 " It's something about the seven notes in music,' 
 said Allie, hesitating. 
 
 " You get it 1 " laughed Joslyn. 
 
 " And it somehow seems," she added, " to mean 
 us seven children, too." 
 
 "We never had a knock-down fight in our lives ! " 
 cried Jack. " We get along pretty well together ! " 
 
 " But when we grow up and have troubles," mur- 
 mured Loo, " I wonder how we'll get along ? " 
 
 " I tell you, now, I would hate to see any of the 
 girls come to grief ! " cried Ben, who understood 
 Joslyn's fiction as a parable, " whether they ought to 
 enjoy it alongside of other folks or not." 
 
152 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 "O, TV stand by you, Rome ! " cried Remus. 
 
 "And 7W stand by you!" she responded. 
 
 And "I'd stand by you!" "I'd stand by you!" 
 resounded all along the arch. 
 
 Before they knew what they were doing, the 
 Bunch were all standing by each other and shaking 
 hands with each other, reassuringly. 
 
 " O, we'd all stand by each other," said Allie, 
 laughing, " and if by each other by everybody else 
 who needed it ! " 
 
 " You are a Bunch ! " said Joslyn, rising also and 
 laughing and shaking himself. " Well, hang close ! 
 But it's nearly twelve o'clock, and I believe my fur- 
 ther hints and admonitions to you now will have to 
 be curtailed with ' Good-night, Dogberry Bunch ! ' " 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " NO HOME ! " 
 
 IT is a fact in our existence that some days or 
 weeks, crowded with events, seem longer and of 
 more importance than months or even years of quiet 
 living. During the years, however, we are growing 
 ready to burst into the flower of new events. 
 
 For two years after Arthur's journey the Dogberrys 
 went on pretty much as usual ; on a new plane to be 
 
 153 
 
154 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 sure, and improving themselves, but without any 
 important adventures. 
 
 The Greenoff family did not forget them. Joslyn 
 gave Alice music lessons, and the whole Bunch, in 
 instalments of two or three berries at a time, were 
 taken to visit in Danport. But Allie's every-day life 
 was one of school work and planning out the chil- 
 dren's clothes. 
 
 The Durand heirs were so glad to get their brass- 
 bound coffer that they very readily sent the twin dis- 
 coverers of it a couple of hundred dollars apiece ; 
 and this great property Rome and Remus solemnly 
 turned over to their guardian to be invested at ten 
 per cent, along with Jack's hundred. They felt that 
 they were mighty capitalists. In seven years, if the 
 interest remained untouched, their fortune would 
 double. Their heads often swam with considering 
 how they might use it to the best advantage in life. 
 On first coming into their estate they proposed divid- 
 ing it equally among the family j but all the Bunch 
 except themselves scouted the very idea. Now they 
 were thrust into the enviable position of heirs ! and 
 Rheem never met Jacey Dixon anywhere without 
 taking care to act with humility, for fear that highly 
 imaginative boy should think he was proud. 
 
 During this time they thought much about enlarg 
 
"No Hornet" 155 
 
 ing their house. Their tastes and ideas were grow- 
 ing. So Ben and Alice took tithes from their earn- 
 ings, and Jack and the twins turned over their two 
 years' interest to the fund, and Ben himself built a 
 wing, raised the roof of the summer kitchen, and fin- 
 ished the latter room with a rough plaster. They 
 had now a parlor, a dining-room and a kitchen, a 
 guest-room and two roomy chambers for themselves. 
 There was so much consultation and so much wait- 
 ing before these rooms could all be furnished and 
 arranged according to their satisfaction, that it was 
 quite six months after the beginning that they got to 
 the outside of the house. It needed a new coat of 
 paint, and they all went out and looked at its brown 
 and weather-beaten sides. 
 
 " Let's paint it white," said Jack. 
 
 O, no ! Allie couldn't endure white. 
 
 " And white lead costs like fun," said Benjamin. 
 
 " And a white house always looks like a big tent," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 "I think green would be pretty," suggested 
 Rheem. " I never saw a green house ! " 
 
 " And you're never likely to see one," said Jack ; 
 " especially Dogberrys' house. When I was in Cin- 
 cinnati " Jack was very fond of soaring back 
 through his travels "I noticed a good many nice 
 buildings painted gray and brown 1 ." 
 
156 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 11 In stripes and crossbars, eh ? " quizzed Ben. 
 
 " No, I don't mean that way. I mean some were 
 brown and some were gray. Gray's a pretty color." 
 
 They held many councils, and Ben Bolt investi- 
 gated every shade of pigment. A very pale brown 
 was found to be as cheap and pretty as anything they 
 could command. Pale brown it was, and Ben, in put- 
 ting it on, emphasized it with darker facings. Under 
 this treatment the old house appeared actually to 
 expand. How fine, warm-toned and hospitable it 
 looked ! 
 
 "There's one thing more," said Sweet Alice, " but 
 we can't afford it ! That's a verandah." 
 
 " I tell you what looks nicer," cried Rome, " and 
 that's these stripey covers cousin Greenoffs have on 
 their windows." 
 
 "Awnings." 
 
 " They'd cost as much as a verandah," objected 
 Lucy. 
 
 Still their minds all ran on that subject. The 
 house stood back on a well kept and shaded lawn, 
 and the awnings would be more delightful than 
 verandahs all around. So they thought and inquired 
 and planned, and finally made for themselves some 
 wonderful cheap awnings, with covers to go under 
 when it rained, and ropes to pull them up, and a 
 framework satisfactory in the extreme. 
 
'JUST PRETTY ENOUGH FOR ANYTHING.' 
 
" No Home 1" 159 
 
 Then they sat down on the lawn and looked at their 
 house quite half a day. It was a beautiful place. It 
 looked like a sea-side cottage. None of them had 
 ever seen a sea-side cottage, so this simile did not 
 occur to them ; but they pronounced it with one 
 accord " just pretty enough for anything ! " 
 
 Arthur, in knickerbockers and blouse, and his first 
 boots, and a straw hat so broad that it quenched him 
 like an umbrella, looked solemnly at his rejuvenated 
 home. 
 
 Mother Thomas, going home with her sewing under 
 her arm, from spending the afternoon with a neigh- 
 bor, saw the group camping and came up to find 
 what they were about. 
 
 " Why, how fine we are ! " exclaimed she. " Got 
 your house done ? " 
 
 " Clear finished ! And O, isn't it sweet ! " cried 
 Rome. " I'm so glad we got everything just fixed in 
 the summer time when the trees are green. I'd feel 
 sorry if it had to stand out in the snow when it looks 
 so new ! " 
 
 " We're sitting here taking our leisure to admire it 
 because we've been so long about the work," said 
 Sweet Alice, smiling. " We've been nearly two years 
 planning it all and raising the money to fix the house. 
 Haven't we, children ? " 
 
160 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " That's because girls are so full of notions and so 
 slow," cried Jack. " If we'd been all boys we'd had 
 it done long ago ! " 
 
 " Yes, and what a sight it would have been," said 
 Lucy. " A whittling place, a sleeping place and an 
 eating place, and all doors so's you could run in and 
 out easy. That's a boy's house ! " 
 
 " Now, Loo ! " remonstrated Ben," this is part a 
 boy's work, and you seem to think it's pretty credit- 
 able." 
 
 "It's first-rate!" said Mother Thomas, shaking 
 with good-humored approval of all that the Bunch 
 did. 
 
 " But you ought to see the new rooms ! " cried 
 the twins. 
 
 " And the kitchen ! " cried Arthur. 
 
 " And the china closet ! " said Allie. " O, you 
 must come in and see it all ! " 
 
 So they took her amongst them some pulling and 
 some pushing her, the tall ones calling her attention 
 upward, and the short ones bespeaking her attention 
 downward and showed her first what improve- 
 ments they had made in the sitting-room, the band of 
 dull Indian red at the top of the wall, a case of 
 books on a table, given them by Joslyn Greenoff, 
 their attempts at " applied art " on some cheap bits 
 
"No Home!" 161 
 
 of pottery, and the effect the awnings produced in 
 the room. Then they dragged her to the wing-room, 
 fresh and new, the wood grained dark by Ben's 
 untrained but really imitative hand, the chamber set 
 the best their hoarded means could buy, the 
 grand easy-chair, put together of rough wood by Ben 
 and covered and stuffed by the girls ; then into the 
 closet pantry which their budding architect brother 
 had introduced between the dining-room and kitchen, 
 with *a window where the dishes could be handed 
 back and forth, and with such shelves ! and such 
 snug locker arrangements with lids, for bread, cake, 
 etc. 
 
 Last of all Mother Thomas was constrained to 
 view the glories of the new kitchen, raised from its 
 former low estate of shed ; and, though she had pre- 
 viously seen all these things piecemeal, not one but 
 many times, she expressed as much astonishment 
 and joy over the completed whole as if her eyes had 
 never before rested on a moderately comfortable 
 house. 
 
 " Stay to tea with us," begged Lucy, who, having 
 done her week's baking, felt sure of a tolerable bill of 
 fare. 
 
 " Yes, do ! " urged all the Bunch, when a shadow 
 pushed over the door-step and across the parlor floor 
 
1 62 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 and quite into the clining-room, where they were 
 almost clamoring in their eagerness and joy. 
 
 "There's some one at the door. Maybe it's 
 Cousin Joslyn ! " exclaimed Jack. 
 
 They made a charge on Cousin Joslyn, but it was 
 their guardian, Lawyer McKay. He was a welcome 
 comer, too ; though they were all just in tune with Jos- 
 lyn's happy nature at that moment, and would have 
 loved, of all things, his criticism or approval of their 
 work. 
 
 Mr. McKay had to go over the whole round which 
 Mother Thomas had just finished. They asked his 
 opinion of the wing, and desired to know if he didn't 
 highly admire the band of Indian red under the parlor 
 ceiling. 
 
 "We'd like to put a new carpet in the parlor," 
 said Allie, " but we can wait for that." 
 
 "Yes, till after we have bought an organ !" cried 
 the twins. 
 
 " And some more books," said Ben. 
 
 " And some pictures ! " exclaimed Jack. " What 
 does a fellow care for carpets? I just as lief tum- 
 ble down on the bare floor, if I can have something 
 pretty overhead to look at. These pictures that 
 mother made at scnool are real nice, but they make 
 a fellow want more." 
 
"No Home/' 1 163 
 
 Sweet Alice observed that their guardian viewed 
 their improvements with a grave and clouded face. 
 She and Ben Bolt as the heads of the family felt 
 their responsibility. She did not wish him to think 
 they had been indulging in prodigal expenses. 
 
 " We put a rug carpet in the new room," she 
 observed, calling his attention to it. " It didn't take 
 nearly as much carpeting as if we had covered the 
 floor ; and is so much prettier with the border ! I 
 bought that with the money I meant to get a new 
 summer suit with, but I didn't really need the suit as 
 much as we needed the carpet. Ben made that stain 
 for the floor-border. When you see how little it cost 
 us to make these changes, Mr. McKay, you'll be sur- 
 prised ! " 
 
 " It's very pretty," said guardian. 
 
 Lucy, while the others were acting as ushers, had 
 touched up a quick fire in the kitchen stove and set 
 the kettle to boil. She now rolled out the table, put 
 in an extra leaf, and they heard her rattling with 
 much importance in the new china closet. 
 
 " I did all the carpenter work myself," said Ben, 
 " and got the lumber at the lowest figure and the 
 paints, too. There's a good deal in getting your 
 materials cheap." 
 
 " You're an energetic, bright lot," said Lawyer 
 
164 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 McKay. Still he appeared no less troubled than 
 before. 
 
 " We just used the interest of our money," observed 
 Jack, with importance, "and some more that we 
 earned and saved on purpose." 
 
 " And now we've got lots of room ! " cried Remus. 
 
 " Plenties ! " cried Rome. 
 
 " Just as pretty a home as anybody need want ! " 
 wound up Jack. 
 
 "They do enjoy anything so much!" remarked 
 Mother Thomas to the lawyer, shaking her portly 
 figure with sympathetic laughter. 
 
 " You've used the interest of your money," said 
 Mr. McKay, queerly, " and have been putting your 
 spare earnings into these improvements ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ! " chorused the Bunch with faint appre- 
 hension. 
 
 " We thought you were willing we should go ahead 
 and make them, sir," said Ben. 
 
 " I was. At the time it seemed the wisest invest- 
 ment you could make." 
 
 " My gracious ! " thought Mother Thomas ; " if the 
 man has any fault to find, why doesn't he out with it 
 instead of talking so scary just when they're tak- 
 ing such comfort in everything ! " 
 
 " And wasn't it the wisest investment ? '' inquired 
 
"No Home!" 165 
 
 the Bunch, all of them turning up their eyes on him, 
 solemnly except Ben, who stood on a level with 
 his guardian and, therefore, looked straight at him. 
 Arthur's straw hat was pushed to the back of his 
 head he was the baby still, and manners were not 
 rigidly enforced on him his hair straggled down to 
 his eyebrows, his immense, serious eyes were spread 
 wide, to take in the full measure of some calamity 
 which Mr. McKay appeared to hold over their 
 heads. 
 
 "No," said their guardian, slowly. "If I had 
 known then what I know now, I never should have 
 advised it. I should have been very far from allow- 
 ing you to put your means upon the house. I am 
 afraid you are going to have trouble, children." 
 
 A breathless waiting for the worst. 
 
 " There is another claimant to this property." 
 
 The younger ones scarcely understood. 
 
 " Another party has a title to it." 
 
 " That won't do him much good, I guess ! " 
 exclaimed Jack, hotly. "Our father left this house 
 and two lots to us/" 
 
 " But it seems there was a flaw in your father's 
 title." 
 
 " Didn't you think it was all right, Mr. McKay ? " 
 asked Alice, piteously, very pale about the mouth. 
 
1 66 The Dogberry Bufich. 
 
 " Of course I thought it was all right ! " exclaimed 
 guardian. " I never examined into the title very 
 closely; but White, after he had settled up your 
 father's property, turned over the papers to me and 
 told me you had your home and your lots. The 
 taxes have been paid regularly " 
 
 " I'm going to Mr. White this minute," said Jack, 
 " and ask him if anybody owns our house and lots 
 but ourselves ! " 
 
 He darted across lots for John White's. 
 
 " White was appointed administrator, you know," 
 said Mr. McKay. " I was appointed guardian. He 
 is a good and honest man. I suppose he knows 
 nothing about any irregularity in the title, and such a 
 thing never occurred to me until I got a letter yes- 
 terday setting forth a valid claim of another party, 
 and demanding possession." 
 
 " Possession ! " gasped the Bunch except Arthur, 
 whose eyes expanded more, if possible, and drank in 
 whole draughts of the doleful tidings. 
 
 Lucy, drawn from tea preparations, stood lean- 
 ing disconsolately against the dining-room door- 
 frame. 
 
 " Sit down, Mr. McKay," said Allie, faintly, realiz- 
 ing that she wanted very much to sit down herself. 
 Ben wheeled the large chair towards him and he sat 
 
"No Home!" 167 
 
 down, looking really distressed among his wards. 
 Alice sat down and took Arthur on her lap. Mother 
 Thomas, who had a constitutional distrust of law and 
 lawyers, also entrenched herself in a chair, and pre- 
 pared to support the children through the danger 
 now threatening them. Rome and Remus interlaced 
 arms and firmly propped one another. Ben took a 
 stand similar to Lucy's, and leaned with one brawny 
 arm above his head. 
 
 " If father bought and paid for this property, Mr. 
 McKay," said he, " and got all the papers for it, isn't 
 it ours.? " 
 
 " If the papers are right," replied guardian ; " if he 
 made his title good. There are very many instances 
 of defective titles ; and a piece of real estate will 
 change hands again and again, the lawyers never 
 finding out that another party has the rightful claim 
 till that party turns up to make his claim good. I 
 suppose you might have gone on comfortably all 
 your lives in this house some of you if a certain 
 man hadn't left his affairs, when he died, in the hands 
 of a very sharp person. That person now claims 
 this little piece for the estate, on the grounds of an 
 informality in the first purchase." 
 
 The Bunch were mystified but greatly distressed. 
 
 " Nothing but a quit-claim from these original own- 
 ers could make your title perfect." 
 
1 68 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Couldn't we buy a quit-claim, then ? " Ben 
 begged to know. 
 
 Mr. McKay shook his head. 
 
 " Everything depends on what they may choose to 
 do." 
 
 " It's a shame," cried Rheem, " if our father paid 
 out his money for our house and other folks can go 
 and take it from us ! " 
 
 " It's just as bad as can be ! " assented Maude, 
 crying. " It's stealin' things ! " 
 
 " It's unfortunate," said guardian, u truly. But 
 the law doesn't rob, and, especially, doesn't rob 
 orphans. We'll see what we can do." 
 
 John White now entered with Jack panting at his 
 heels, and, after gravely exchanging greetings with 
 Mr. McKay, asked to have the case repeated to him. 
 The two men went into the guest-room alas, that 
 its first use should be such a funeral-like one ! and 
 held a consultation. John White had administered 
 on the very small Dogberry estate, and had done it 
 to the best of his ability. He had seen an abstract 
 of the lots and considered everything safe. 
 
 " Do you think they'd better fight this ? " he asked, 
 greatly disturbed. " If they haven't the means for it, 
 I have. I feel like I ought to see the thing through." 
 John's granite-like face showed the quartz and feld- 
 spar now, instead of its usual mica-like glints of fun. 
 
"No Home/ 11 169 
 
 " Frankly, no," said their guardian. " There's a 
 minor on the other side, too. They'd get involved 
 in endless suits, or get judgment against them ; for 
 the thing's very clear. I wouldn't have had this hap- 
 pen for a year's income ! " 
 
 " It's a shame ! " cried John, " discouraging the lit- 
 tle tribe so, when they're so full of hope ! More energy 
 than half the grown folks and just got their house 
 fixed up to their idee ! " 
 
 " There's this," said Lawyer McKay, indicating a 
 point on which to fasten hope. "The Dalrymple 
 estate is very large. This is a stray bit of one of 
 Dalrymple's investments in Western lands. In this 
 locality it isn't very valuable to the estate. If there 
 wasn't a minor heir on that side, too, I might get a 
 quit-claim deed from that estate which would make 
 these children safe." 
 
 While their friends were conferring the Bunch 
 huddled together in the parlor. Mother Thomas 
 secretly indignant at being shut from a consultation 
 in which she felt a vital interest, went home, pained 
 and excited over the probable fate of the children, 
 and they remained for some time without speaking. 
 
 Then Sweet Alice, unable longer to bear the strain 
 of controlling herself, wiped two oozing tears from 
 her eyes and murmured : 
 
170 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 11 What shall we do if we have to lose our home ? " 
 
 The twins took up the wail : 
 
 "O-oo-oh! No home!" 
 
 And Arthur emphasized it by opening his mouth 
 even wider than his eyes, and joining the melan- 
 choly chorus with a whoop of grief : 
 
 " No-o home ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BLACK SHORT -HAND. 
 
 AFTER his short consultation with John White 
 Mr. McKay went home again. He paused at 
 the door to cheer them up as well as he could. 
 
 "At any rate you have possession," said he, " and 
 will keep it until the matter is settled one way or the 
 other. We'll do the best we can." 
 
 John White walked to the railroad station with 
 him, quite roused and anxious. 
 
 How different their house looked to them now 1 
 
 171 
 
172 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 They got up and marched over it again. They 
 lamented in the spare room. They regretted the 
 beauty and finish of the china closet. In their 
 wrath and desolation they wished they could say 
 " Abracadabra ! " and turn the kitchen back into a 
 shed! 
 
 " That lovely band of Indian red ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " Our awnings ! " exclaimed Rome and Remus, 
 tremulously. "We'll take them off so we will! 
 We'll carry them away with us ! " 
 
 " But where shall we carry them to ? " said Allie. 
 She and Ben gazed at each other. 
 
 " Well, don't let's cry till we're hurt," urged Jack. 
 " Mr. McKay says we've got possession and can 
 keep it till we're turned out ; and if they go to turn 
 us out we'll shut the doors and windows, and and 
 and yes, we'll fight 'em ! " 
 
 Jack saw an imaginary host of big harsh men 
 armed with clubs and true titles, and his soul rose in 
 resistance. 
 
 " There's no use in our talking," said Ben as 
 the Head of the House he stated plainly their posi- 
 tion to them all " if we have to give up our home 
 we'll just do it, and get another the best way we can. 
 Perhaps the time's coming for us to stand by each 
 other ! " 
 
Black Short-Hand. i?3 
 
 They drew closer together. 
 
 " There's our four hundred," exclaimed Rome. 
 
 " You can have all that," said Remus. 
 
 " Yes, we'll have a little left," observed Jack, " for 
 there's my hundred, too." 
 
 Sunday passed dolefully. On Monday Allie went 
 to school as usual. Ben put in a good day's work on 
 one of the buildings which were habitually rising in 
 New Town. Jack did his station business, and Loo 
 kept the home machinery running. But in them all 
 there was a secret solemn looking towards the impend- 
 ing crisis. At four o'clock Rome and Remus came 
 
 o 
 
 home from school with Arty toddling between them. 
 He deserted them near the station and went to his 
 Jack ; and they went straight to the loft over the sta- 
 ble to carry out some literary work which they had 
 planned. 
 
 This loft had no windows except broad chinks 
 between the boards ; but they considered it a delight 
 ful sort of studio. For ceiling it had the brown and 
 pointed roof ; and the swallows, like low murmuring 
 musical-boxes, played continually under its eaves. 
 The floor was very clean. There were two stools, 
 and a table made of a box set on legs, with a lid 
 which raised, disclosing treasures of copy-book frag- 
 ments and bits of blank paper torn off letters. In 
 
174 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 one corner and convenient to the stadio, like an 
 Italian apartment was Maude's own special pri- 
 vate residence, her cupboard preserving all the 
 dishes ever broken in Dogberrydom ; her table, 
 made by Remus, and slightly uneven-legged like a 
 kangaroo, and both her rag and china dollies. 
 Raggy, with oblong head and stiff crosspieces of 
 arms and her pencilled features half defaced, lay 
 sprawling out in her blue calico, looking very much 
 discouraged ; but the China, whc^se charming name 
 was Helen Evelyn Rosalie Dogberry, sat up in a lit- 
 tle rustic chair made of roots, and kept house beauti- 
 fully. 
 
 " Susan," said Maude to Raggie, " you do look 
 ridiculous poutin' down there. I'd switch her if I 
 had the heart, for showing such a disposition ; for I 
 set her up straight at noon and this morning, too, 
 and she kicks over every time. But maybe she feels 
 bad about us going to lose our place, and doesn't know 
 what in the world she'll do for a home ! " 
 
 " Maybe she's sick," said Rheem, beginning to 
 seaich his breeches' pockets for a stub of a lead pen- 
 cil, taking out a bunch of string, some flints, three 
 paper birds, a half-shelled ear of corn, two knives 
 (one swapped and to be delivered up the following 
 morning for a jews-harp, which the other boy forgot 
 
Black Short- Hand. 175 
 
 to bring that day), some nails, and a small padlock 
 and key, and half a dozen matches. 
 
 " Let me have my key," said Rome, " maybe she is 
 sick. I'll unlock my house and see." 
 
 She very gravely received the padlock and key 
 just mentioned from her brother's hand, and, step- 
 ping to an imaginary door rattled the two together. 
 
 " Lock, lock, lock, lock ! Now it's open. Susan, 
 what's the matter with you, my sweet child ? Aren't 
 you well? Or have you lain down on the floor just 
 to show your naughty temper ? Look at Helen Eve- 
 lyn sitting there like a little lady ! " 
 
 Here she changed her voice to a tiny plaintive 
 whine and spoke for Susan. 
 
 " Ma, she won't let me have the chair at all ! She 
 sits in it all the time, and I have to stand up or lean 
 across one of the cupboard shelves ! " 
 
 "What, Helen Evelyn, won't you let Sister Susy 
 sit in the chair ? You mustn't be selfish with your 
 sister ! " 
 
 " Yes, ma, Susy may have it." 
 
 "That's a good girl ! I guess you can both sit in 
 it. Now kiss each other." 
 
 She bumped their faces together. Helen Evelyn's 
 nose appeared worn away somewhat by greetings of a 
 similar character on harder substances than sister 
 Susy's cheeks. And she had lost one foot, but did 
 
176 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 all that she could genteelly to cover that defect. 
 The foot had wandered to school in her ma's pocket. 
 Maude meant to sew it on again it being a china 
 foot on a cloth joint but, in an unguarded moment, 
 she traded it off to another girl for some chewing 
 gum, which Allie prohibited her chewing. So it was a 
 dead loss ; for the girl wouldn't trade back, and 
 Helen was injured for life. Perhaps this circum- 
 stance made her heart tenderer towards this doll, for 
 all the handsomest clothes fell to Helen ; but favorit- 
 ism did not spoil her sweet disposition. 
 
 Having crowded her two children into the root 
 chair, Maude drew up the table before them and 
 gave them a bit of wholesome and nourishing candy 
 for their supper, with a great many bits of broken china 
 from the cupboard shelves for them to feast their eyes 
 upon. Susan was still slightly perverse and stuck 
 one foot upon the table, declaring that Helen Evelyn 
 squeezed her out of the seat; but her mother 
 checked her with a reproachful shake of the head. 
 
 " Come on," said Remus, " I've found it ! " produc- 
 ing from a fold of his pocket, where several fish- 
 hooks were embedded, a speck of lead pencil to 
 which he carefully gave a point, and in doing so 
 reduced its size so much that it wabbled on the 
 paper between his finger and thumb. 
 
 " I must put 'em to bed first." 
 
Black Short- Hand. 177 
 
 " O, let them put themselves to bed ! We'll never 
 get our letter done." 
 
 Rome took her key and, retreating, again made 
 magic passes with it. 
 
 "Lock lock, lock lock! Now the door's 
 locked. Here, put up the key for me, Rheemie." 
 Then she returned to their sanctum and studio. 
 
 Remus was already on a stool with the fairest half 
 sheet of paper before him, sucking the lead pencil 
 stump. He took the key absently and slid it into his 
 trousers' pocket. 
 
 " Now, don't lose it," exhorted Maude, in her 
 usual formula ; " for what 'ud I do if those children 
 should be locked in, and their clothes should take 
 fire and I couldn't get to them ! " 
 
 " I won't lose it ! " cried Remus, spurning the idea, 
 as he always did, though his daily path was sown 
 with lost doll-house keys, and he, had once been 
 obliged to force the invisible door with a corn-cob 
 that Maude might get in to her starving dollies. 
 She now brought her stool close to his, and put her 
 arm around the back of his little vest. 
 
 " Do you spell dear with a big D or a little d ? " 
 inquired he. 
 
 "Big," said Maude. 
 
 He wrote laboriously. " Dear " 
 
178 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Maudie, how does Cousin Joslyn spell his 
 name ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I'll run and ask the girls." 
 
 " Don't you ! " cried Remus, bringing her down in 
 full flight. " We weren't going to tell ! We were 
 going to write our own selves ! " 
 
 The truth was that they instinctively knew the 
 family pride would keep the older ones from pouring 
 the tale of Dogberry calamity into Joslyn's bosom. 
 But no such pride hindered them, and they did not 
 want to be hindered by anything else. Joslyn was a 
 mighty power in their eyes. His fertile nature had 
 often added to their joys. It was now the very lux- 
 ury of trouble to display it before him. What he 
 would do they did not know. Something tremen- 
 dous, probably. One thing they were sure of, and 
 that was his warm his real comforting sympathy. 
 
 " Well, how do you think it's spelled ? " 
 
 " Don't write it. Put a J and wait till we get 
 thiough then maybe we can think of the rest." 
 
 "Dear J. " 
 
 " Say Mr. McKay came and told us we hadn't got 
 any house or lots." 
 
 " How do you spell McKay ? I wish there wasn't 
 so many names ! I guess I'll put it K 'n' then we 
 can fix it. * Dear J , K. says we haven't any 
 
Blaek Short-Hand. 
 
 179 
 
 property' that sounds better than lots. Property. 
 Le's see. P-r-o-p " 
 
 " P-i, pi, proppi " 
 
 " Aw, pshaw I don't le's say property, it's so long. 
 
 " LE'S SEE. P-R-O-P " 
 
 Le's say residence that's what folks call their 
 houses. R-e-z, res " 
 
 R-e-j, Rheemie! Don't you know how to spell 
 'esidence ? " 
 
180 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " O, I can spell it; but it takes so long to write, 
 and this pencil slips so ! I'll put it R." 
 
 " Little r, or else we'll think it's somebody's name 
 when we come to read it over." 
 
 " ' Dear J , K. says we haven't any r.' Then 
 I'll say 'We feel very bad.'" 
 
 " Yes, write that ; and put in * All of us do awful 
 even Metempsychosis ! ' He'll know we mean Arty, 
 for that's what he calls Arty." 
 
 Remus wrestled along until he came to Metempsy- 
 chosis. Then he and Maude gazed at each other, 
 and without a word he put it M. 
 
 " Tell him ' We would love to see you and the 
 other relations.' " 
 
 The spelling-shirk was now chronic. When Remus 
 came to " relations " he made another phonetic charac- 
 ter, and his work got pretty rapidly down the page. 
 Maude would have taken a turn at the pencil, but 
 Rheem imagined himself the better scribe, and told 
 her they better not waste any writing-paper on her 
 experiments ; for they might soon be driven into the 
 world without a scrap. Submitting to his decision 
 she contented herself with prompting him. 
 
 They poured forth their souls and made a very 
 expressive letter in intention ; and then they tried to 
 translate it out of the original. 
 
 " Read it over and hear how it sounds, Rheemie." 
 

 Black Short- Hand. 181 
 
 "'DEAR J : K. says we haven't any r. We feel 
 very bad, all of us do, awful, even M. We would 
 Love to see you and the other R. There is some- 
 thing wrong with our t. Somebody else has better 
 t. We might get a q, but there is a young h. You 
 ought to see our house. It is r and has A at all the 
 windows. If we have to leave it we shall feel d. 
 The dolls are well. Loo broke a g and I was glad 
 to have it in my playhouse. I caught sixteen fish the 
 last time I went. We got good bait in our garden. 
 Your loving C, 
 
 RHEEM DOGBERRY, ) 
 MAUDE DOGBERRY. ) 
 
 " I get all mixed up ! " cried Rheem, puckering 
 his soft eyebrows at his twin. " I forget what some 
 o' the letters stand for ! " 
 
 "J, that's Joslyn; and K, that's McKay; and r 
 that's " 
 
 " We've got in three r's ! " 
 
 " Well, r stood for relations once, I remember." 
 
 " We haven't any relations ! Now that ain't right, 
 for we were going to tell him something about the 
 house. And down here it says : ' You ought to see 
 our house. It is r.' Now that ain't relations. Our 
 house ain't our relations ! " 
 
 " That was repaired ; and then it has A, you know 
 awnings ! " 
 
1 82 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 "O, yes! * There is something wrong with our 
 
 > 
 
 " Title " 
 
 "It sounds mighty queer, doesn't it? * If we have 
 to leave it we shall feel d ' dreadfully. * Loo broke 
 ag 'goblet. I saw her break it. But we've got 
 the fish and the dolls mixed. 'Your loving cousins.' 
 We'll have to study over this and find out how to 
 spell the words before we send it, or Cousin Joslyn 
 won't know what we mean." 
 
 " We can hunt the words in the big dictionary, I 
 tell you, Rheemie," proposed this devoted sister. " I 
 can run and bring it out here now ! " 
 
 "No," cried Remus, "I'll put the letter in my 
 jacket pocket, and we'll hunt the words when the 
 rest of them go out to sit in the Air Castle or play 
 croquet." 
 
 " And to-morrow we'll get a stamp and envelope 
 and send our letter." 
 
 The business of the studio was now finished, and 
 they climbed down the ladder and went to the 
 house. 
 
 But they never sent that short-hand letter to 
 Joslyn. When Jack came to supper he brought the 
 mail, two letters ; one addressed to Allie, the other 
 to Ben. Allie broke her envelope first and read 
 aloud : 
 
Black Short-Hand. 183 
 
 " MY CHARMING COUSIN AND THE WHOLE BUNCH : 
 
 I write in a hurry to say that we are off to the Arkan- 
 sas Hot Springs, almost without warning. My 
 grandmother, Mrs. Wiley, has been failing greatly. 
 The physician thinks the baths and the climate may 
 do her good. Of course mother goes with her, and 
 Wiley ( Mrs. Wiley's woman) with them. And they 
 imagine there is something the matter with me, 
 though I cannot be convinced of it myself ; but as 
 they need me to look after them, and I haven't had 
 any vacation from the bank for an age, I shall go and 
 get as fat as the heat will let me. 
 
 " The house will be shut up, probably for the 
 whole summer ; for if Mrs. Wiley can bear it we 
 shall take her from place to place. We are really 
 very much alarmed about her. She is quite old, and 
 her life has to be very carefully guarded. She was 
 delighted with that white shawl you netted for her, 
 Allie, and sends her kindest remembrances, in which 
 mother joins. ' Bless you, my children ! ' Be good, 
 all of you. I should love to rush in among you 
 before we start ; but we start to-morrow, early, and I 
 have everything to attend to. Will write again. 
 With loads of appreciation, 
 
 "COUSIN JOSLYN." 
 
 Poor dear old lady ! " said Allie. 
 
'184 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 But Rome and Remus looked at each other in a 
 consternation peculiarly their own. How should 
 they reach Cousin Joslyn with a letter if he was start- 
 ing out to caper all over the country ? 
 
 Ben broke his envelope, and his troubled face over 
 his letter stopped any comment which would have 
 been made upon the first one. 
 
 "Out with it, Ben Bolt," said Jack, stoutly. 
 "That's Mr. McKay's office envelope. Have we 
 got to tumble out ? " 
 
 Ben handed the letter over to Jack, who read it 
 with a ring as if he defied its terrors. 
 
 Guardian had another message from the party 
 claiming their lots. The ground was wanted to build 
 a grain elevator upon. The claim would certainly 
 be enforced, and the ground taken possession of as 
 soon as the law allowed. 
 
 " A grain elevator ! " 
 
 " On our ground ! " 
 
 " Maybe right in front of the house ! " 
 
 " What is an elevator ? " cried Rome, between her 
 sobs. 
 
 "Why it's what they go up and down-stairs in 
 when they don't want to walk," explained Remus, 
 just as tearfully, " I saw one in the hotel at Danport." 
 
 " We don't want any nelevator ! " said Arty, very 
 
Black Short- Hand. 185 
 
 red and white with his emotions. " We won't have 
 it ! We'll tear't down ! " 
 
 " It isn't that kind of an elevator, Rheemie," 
 explained Ben, with a husk to his voice. " It's a 
 
 WE'LL TEAR 7 T DOWN ! 
 
 high building to store grain in. And there isn't any 
 use in our making a fuss." 
 
 The girls tried to staunch their eyes, and Remus 
 flung away five or six tears with his finger tips. 
 
i86 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " I tell you what le's do," said Jack. " We've got 
 our house done. We enjoyed fixin' it, and put our 
 money and time on it. Now le's have some good out 
 of it ! You never can tell what's going to happen, 
 do your best. So le's have one royal good time to 
 remember ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RED SHORT-HAND. 
 
 THIS philosophy struck kindred sparks in the 
 rest of the family, and they at once prepared 
 to have a good time. 
 
 The supper dishes were soon on their shelves, and 
 the house as trim as a new schooner. Then they 
 made another procession to look at all their improve- 
 ments, and rejoiced over everything, Jack declaring 
 
1 88 We Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 he was glad after all that they had such a nice look- 
 ing place to leave. 
 
 " It's more credit to us than the old house, and 
 whoever lives in it will feel obliged to us." 
 
 " It's a home" said Allie. " The next people can't 
 help knowing that." 
 
 For fear this subject should grow moister, they ran 
 out on the lawn and trooped up and down over 
 every familiar spot. Rome and Remus swarmed up 
 into the Air Castle, and Arty bruised his shins trying 
 to follow. Loo put a pansy band all around his hat. 
 Then they all played croquet, till it grew so dark 
 the balls were hopelessly hid by the grass, and then 
 they brought chairs out, and cuddled in them or on 
 the stoop, close together. Loo had some spice cook- 
 ies in the pantry. She brought them out, and they 
 munched and were happy. By mutual understand- 
 ing they let their future alone, and told stories, and 
 jokes, and rhymes. A freight train rumbled past, 
 and they watched through the trees the glare of its 
 eye, and a solitary figure or two darting back and 
 forth on it. 
 
 " No. 8," said Jack, with business address, lifting 
 Arty up on his knees to watch it. If there was one 
 thing on earth more attractive to Arty than locomo- 
 tive power, he had not yet discovered it. He stood 
 
Red Short- Hand. 189 
 
 on Jack's legs, bracing himself by Jack's scalp, and 
 strained his eyes till the freight was quite lost in 
 darkress, and even its two ruby rear lamps were 
 obscured. Then he slid to his feet, and sat down 
 again on the step, murmuring : 
 
 " The Big Black Horse ! " 
 
 "Say The Big Black Horse, Arty ! ' '' cried 
 Rheem. 
 
 " Can't say it." 
 
 " O yes, you can ! " said Jack. " We've said it a 
 hundred times. Cousin Joslyn won't make you any 
 more poetry if you go and forget it." 
 
 Arthur wriggled on the step and professed himself 
 able to say "pieces " of it, if Jacky would do it, too. 
 Jacky, therefore, darted off like a mother-bird luring 
 her young one to fly, and Arty flopped alongside as 
 well as he could, very.glib with some of the lines and 
 making a mere mumble of the others. In this way 
 they had really recited "The Big Black Horse" a 
 hundred times, thereby greatly edifying their family. 
 
 " The Big Black Horse is my heart's delight, 
 
 I run to watch him by day or night. 
 
 I waked in the night and I heard his hoofs 
 
 Come making thunder past walls and roofs. 
 
 He snorted coals, and they flew up higher 
 
 Than even the glare of his eye of fire. 
 
 He panted and rushed and my breath I hushed 
 
igo The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 How awful to be by his tramping crushed ! 
 The houses shook as his carts flew past, 
 All barred and darkened except the last. 
 A rose-red light hung over its dash 
 Perhaps so the driver could see to lash 
 Any hangers-on, who might love to crash 
 Through dark through cities through water-course, 
 At the heels of the glorious 
 
 BIG 
 BLACK 
 HORSE! 
 
 "The Big Black Horse wears a brazen bell, 
 In towns and at crossings he rings it well 
 * Get out of my way, little sons of men, 
 The Big Black Horse must go by again I ' 
 Burnished and clean is his panting hide; 
 You can see a bright throb dart along his side 1 
 He often draws carriages, long and fine ; 
 So strong is he, I have seen a line 
 Of five or six follow in his course, 
 lie can draw lots of people can that black horse I 
 He isn't afraid of a narrow road I 
 Just give him a foothold, he'll pull his load. 
 But pit-falls have caught him as fierce he strode ! 
 Then people have cried over many a corse ! 
 But / should cry, too, for the 
 
 BIG 
 BLACK 
 HORSE ! 
 
 " The Big Black Horse gives a ringing neigh 
 When the curb is put on him his speed to stay. 
 His mane is a lovely, changeable roll, 
 Gray, brown, pearl-color, or black as coal 1 
 He tosses it back and it streams out grand, 
 
Red Short- Hand. 
 
 You can see it curl far across the land. 
 And when I am tired, and want to go 
 To seek more places than those I know, 
 And to think as fast as his mane can flow, 
 He says : ' Come on, I will take you so ! ' 
 He drinks from a cistern built on stilts, 
 And the man who feeds him, he almost wilts ! 
 For he is a creature of fire and force 
 Ah, how I love him 1 that 
 
 BIG 
 BLACK 
 HORSE ! " 
 
 After "The Big Black Horse" they proposed a 
 story not exactly a serial, but still a story, handed 
 from one to another " to be continued." This was a 
 favorite Dogberry amusement, and often afforded 
 them a great amount of fun ; and one imagination 
 stimulated another, though each story-teller gave the 
 tale the twist of his own peculiar genius. 
 
 " You begin it, Jack." 
 
 " Let Allie begin this time. She's the oldest. 
 And let's go this time in the order of our ages." 
 
 "Pitch in, Sweet Alice." 
 
 " * Pitch in ' is slang, Rheemie." 
 
 " Well, then, walk up to your crib ! " 
 
 " That's a great deal worse ! Those things are not 
 manly. They sound like the Bee Hive people." 
 
 " Well, you know what I mean. Start the ball 1 
 
192 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Give her a send ! It won't come our turn for ever 
 so long, Rome. We can be making it up to piece 
 on." 
 
 " Start up, Allie." 
 
 After being exhorted thus several times, Allie 
 started up with : 
 
 " Once there was an old woman who was bent half 
 double, and she was very, very old. She lived in a 
 large city, in a beautiful house, and had many people 
 to wait on her. She had three orphan grand-children 
 whom she was educating, and they gave her more 
 delight than anything else, when they were good and 
 tried to learn kind manners and lovely ways. The 
 eldest and youngest were boys, named John and 
 Jacob, and the second was a girl, named Mary." 
 
 ( " What ugly names ! " murmured Rome. " When 
 it comes my turn, I'm going to change them ! ") 
 
 "John was tall and studious, Jacob was chubby 
 and playful, and Mary was very graceful and very 
 fond of music . She would sit at her piano hours, 
 singing and practicing difficult studies; and it was 
 her greatest desire to go abroad and study music 
 with the foreign people who know it so well. * When 
 I am a grown woman,' she would say, * if grandma 
 will let me, I will get my big brother to take me, and 
 we will travel and study. It would be so lovely, too, 
 
Red Short-Hand. 
 
 193 
 
 to stay month 
 after month in 
 Milan and learn 
 the Italian 
 method.' Then 
 " said Allie, 
 whose forte was 
 not story-tell- 
 ing, wishing to 
 cut short her 
 introduction 
 "go on, Ben." 
 
 Ben came up 
 to the work with 
 little relish, but 
 perfect good- 
 nature, and rub- 
 bed his temples 
 with his knuck- 
 les to stir up his 
 brain. 
 
 "O, yes! 
 Well, one day 
 the good o 1 d 
 gr a n d m o t h er 
 was taken very 
 ill and died. 
 
194 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 which straightened her out, you know. The three 
 children felt very badly " 
 
 ( " That's just as mean as mean can be ! " cried 
 Rome. " I was going to have her take them to a beau- 
 tiful ride and make a picnic for them. But then 
 I can make her come alive again ! " 
 
 " Keep still, Rome," urged her twin.) 
 
 "They felt very badly," continued Ben, "and 
 they felt worse, when the Grossest and sharpest rela- 
 tion they had in the world came to live with them. 
 This aunt made Johnny take his drawings and his 
 wood-carving out of his own room into the attic, 
 where he had no room at all among the old lumber. 
 She would not allow Mary to practice because the 
 piano hurt her head, and little Jacob soon became 
 lean because she dieted him so strictly. But John 
 studied away, for he wanted to become a first-class 
 architect and builder ; and he often said to himself : 
 ' When I am a man, and am making money and get- 
 ting a fine reputation, I will take my brother and sis- 
 ter to live with me and leave Aunt Nettle to com- 
 plain herself to a shadow. I'll build a handsome 
 house of rough gray stone. No basement. Six rooms 
 on the ground floor, but only three on the upper floor 
 besides the passage. One for Mary's music-room, 
 
Red Short- Hand. 195 
 
 one for Jacob's play-room, and one for my work- 
 room/ Go ahead, Jack." 
 
 " He didn't build his house anywhere except in his 
 head, did he ? Well, one day John got very mad, 
 and concluded he wouldn't stand it any longer, so he 
 took his sister by the hand and Jacob under his arm 
 and started for the train. He left them on the depot 
 platform and went in to buy tickets, and when he 
 came out his brother and sister were gone, so he was 
 obliged to start out on his travels by himself. He 
 felt very badly, and concluded to go to California to 
 make a fortune, after which he could hunt the others 
 up and build that house for them. But when he got 
 to California he found that the fortunes had all been 
 made and a good many of them lost, and he jumped 
 on a ship to go to China, but the ship was wrecked 
 on one of the Cannibal Islands, which the mission- 
 aries have never reached. The cannibals killed and 
 cooked all the fat passengers, but put John in a coop 
 to feed, and he thanked his aunt whose worrying had 
 kept him thin. While the cannibals were trying to 
 put flesh on him, his brother and sister were in a 
 strange city, for they had gone off on the wrong train, 
 and their aunt was hunting for them all ; go on, Loo." 
 
 "My gracious ! John in the Cannibal Islands, and 
 
196 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 his brother and sister away off in a city the other side 
 of the world. Well, the cannibals ate him up " 
 
 (" No o " cried the twins.) 
 
 " And Mary found a place to work, and kept 
 her younger brother with her and sent him to school. 
 At first she made dreadful bread and forgot to put 
 the sugar in her cookies, and got scolded. And 
 Jacob tore his clothes, and she never could keep his 
 heels in ; but it was so nice to try and keep people 
 comfortable, that after awhile she got on very well, 
 though she often sighed to see her brother that the 
 cannibals had eaten but she didn't know that. I 
 don't believe I can think of anything now. Oh, yes : 
 one day her aunt happened to come to visit at the 
 very house where Mary was, and as soon as she saw 
 her, she took Mary and Jacob by the ears and led 
 them off home ! " 
 
 "Ho, pshaw!" said Rheem, taking up the thread, 
 discontentedly. " Le's see. One night John woke 
 up-" 
 
 " In the cannibals ? " 
 
 " No ! he didn't get eaten ; that was a make-believe, 
 like they have in stories : they had him just cooked 
 ready I mean just ready to cook when something 
 scared them, and they put him up again. And one 
 night he waked up while they were all asleep, and 
 

 Red Short- Hand. 197 
 
 took a boat and slipped off. He rowed back to the 
 town he started from, and looked all over the depot 
 for his brother and sister, and his aunt happened to 
 get off the train with them then, so he found them, 
 and she found him and took him home and shut him 
 in the garret. He concluded he would fix up the 
 garret and live there ; so he made a whittling place 
 in one corner and built a play-house for his sister. I 
 thought of a lot more, but I've forgot it! " 
 
 " And one day his grandma came up-stairs," began 
 Rome eagerly, " and told the children to come down \ 
 their aunt was gone home." 
 
 " But the grandma was dead ! " 
 
 " Oh, that was just a make-believe, like they print 
 in stories. So they came down, and she had them 
 all dressed up in their pretty clothes, and took a 
 lovely basket of lunch and called the carriage, and 
 they all started off for a picnic. They came to green 
 woods where the grass was soft and thick " 
 
 (" What a refreshing sight to John after the Canni- 
 bal Islands !") 
 
 " And Clarence his name wasn't 'John' a bit! 
 said, *O grandma, I will always be good hereafter!' 
 And the others said they would. And they had an 
 elegant time. Go on, Arty.' " 
 
 "An' 'en," said Arty, after hanging back a 
 
The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 moment, "they got 
 on train, and they 
 rode and they went 
 and they rode and 
 they went, and it 
 sounded 'cling! 
 cling ! cling ! ' an' 
 they never got off 
 any more at all ! " 
 
 "So John, and 
 Jacob and Mary are 
 still moving!" 
 laughed Alice. 
 " Well, children, we 
 must move too. 
 It's time to go to 
 bed." 
 
 Still they lingered 
 a little while, lapsing 
 into silence. One 
 of them presently 
 
Red Short- Hand. 199 
 
 struck up the " Home of the Soul." Amuse them- 
 selves as they might their thoughts came back to 
 home ; they sung it heartily. And before separating 
 for the night they were moved by an unusual im- 
 pulse : they kissed each other all round, and shook 
 hands, half laughing and merry, but still with tears 
 in their eyes. 
 
 So, having had one more good time they went to 
 bed and to sleep. Arty still slept in his long crib in 
 the girls' room. Maude, also, had a small bed to 
 herself. 
 
 In the night Allie dreamed she was choking. 
 Some tall being with wings, or a mass of heavy 
 drapery, settled down on her neck and began to press 
 her breath out. She struggled and woke to find her 
 nightmare continuing. She was smothering ; the room 
 was full of smoke. She sat up dazed and unable to 
 think. The open window was obscured, though when 
 they went to bed there was moonlight. Color now 
 came out in the smoke. It bloomed suddenly, and a 
 fearful roaring and crackling filled the whole house. 
 
 She was helpless and speechless ! It seemed ages 
 before she could raise her hand and lay it on Loo. 
 Her voice sounded down in her chest and horribly 
 hoarse and strange when she could utter : 
 
 " Loo, the house is on fire ! " 
 
2oo The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Loo sat bolt upright, and said, " What is it ? " 
 Then the truth bursting upon her, she uttered 
 piercing screams and sprang to the floor ; it crackled 
 beneath her feet. She pulled at Maude, and snatch- 
 ing Arthur up ran to the door with him in her arms. 
 At the opening of the door, jets of fire burst through 
 their carpet, swept up the window-casings and ate up 
 the light curtains like a flash. 
 
 " Maudie," said Alice, hoarsely, snatching the child, 
 and wrapping the bed-spread around her and dragging 
 her shoes on, "run run for your life, while I wake 
 the boys ! " She took the water-pitcher and dashed 
 water on the child's head as she started, and rushed 
 out herself, still carrying it in one hand, panic-stricken. 
 The boys' room was near the head of the stairs, 
 There were but two rooms and one long, narrow hall 
 on the second floor. The hall was now a furnace. 
 Alice ran, covering her head and face, and stormed 
 at the boys' door. The floor was parching her tender 
 feet. She poured out the water on them and dashed 
 the pitcher against the door. Ben's and Jack's voices 
 were in clamor. They dashed out, dragging Rheem 
 with them and shouting " The girls ! " 
 " Girls ! girls ! The house is a- fire ! " 
 " They're all out, boyb ! Run ! run ! " 
 "Come on, Allie " 
 
Red Short- Hand. 201 
 
 Their voices all died in a choking gurgle. Creep- 
 ing close to the ground they got down the stilling 
 stairway. The closet under it was roaring like a 
 furnace. But they all reached air and ran into the 
 dewy grass. The roof was one mighty blaze. Dis- 
 tant cries were beginning to ring through the village 
 of " Fire ! fire ! " Men with pails came running and 
 scaling the fences ; but the well was in the kitchen. 
 There were no hose, no fire-engines, and sheets of 
 flame were waving out of the very windows. 
 
 " Where's Arty ? " was Jack's exqlamation. 
 
 "Loo brought him out in her arms," cried Alice. 
 " There are Maude and Rheem, and there's Loo 1 
 
 " The barn's burnt ! " exclaimed Ben in consterna- 
 tion, watching the falling timbers of that little pile 
 " that must have set fire to the house." 
 
 " Loo, where's Arty ?" cried Jack, again. 
 
 " Why, he's right here by me. No, he isn't. Arty 1 
 where is he ? I just put him down. He's gone to 
 Allie. Arty!" 
 
 Jack darted to Allie, and screamed in her ear 
 " Do you know where Arty is ? " 
 
 Allie screamed back over the terrible roar and 
 crackle, " He's safe tie's with Loo, I told you ! " 
 
 "He isn't! I bet he's left in the house! 
 
 " Loo brought him down first one, Jack ! :> 
 
202 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Jack, panic-struck for his pet brother, dashed into 
 the house and made for the stairs. He had on his 
 trousers and boots, but nothing to protect his head; 
 and Allie who knew his desperate courage, was wild 
 with despair. She felt fully assured that Arthur was 
 safe, but nothing could convince Jack of that at this 
 moment. She seized one of the men by the arm and 
 pointed after her brother, screaming that he was 
 going up-stairs again he would be burned to death ! 
 The man shouted to Jack, and ran up and down 
 shouting to others and the roof fell in.. 
 
 Allie ran. She flew to the farthest part of the 
 lawn, and fell on her face in the wet grass, shaking 
 with paroxysms of sobs and cries. Jack was dead ! 
 Dear Jack was killed ! How could she ever look up 
 again ! An unsteady rustle through the sweet clover, 
 a whispering beside her, and a hand on her neck 
 made her conscious that Arty was beside her, but 
 she hardly noticed him. Loo and the twins were 
 screaming near the falling house, and she heard Ben's 
 hoarse, despairing cry of "Jack! Jack!" 
 
 O Jack, Jack, the dearest, the manliest boy ! How 
 could they live with Jack gone ! The timbers gave 
 another crash, and sparks streamed away up to the 
 zenith. 
 
 Arty rustled off again, howling with distress and 
 
Red Short- Hand. 203 
 
 terror. The child was in such a fright that he had 
 hidden himself. The glare showed him Loo, hanging 
 with her face down on her arm against a tree, and 
 the twins crying in their night-clothes beside her. 
 He toddled to them, and just then Ben and two of 
 the men came carrying something between them. 
 
 " The jump stunned him," said John White. 
 
 "Water quick!" cried Mr. Thomas. 
 
 " O Jacky," cried Arty, "what's the matter, Jacky ? " 
 He fell down at Jack's feet and hugged his legs 
 with loud lamentations. 
 
 The rest of the family were around him in an 
 instant, but even in the strong glare of the fire they 
 could not recognize him. His hair was burnt off, his 
 face blistered as if it were half roasted no eye 
 lashes, no eyebrows left. 
 
 Dr. Darling knelt down by him. Allie took his 
 head on her shoulder. The doctor gave him restora- 
 tives, and covered him with wet cloths. " Afraid he's 
 swallowed fire," said he, and immediately made him 
 swallow something else. 
 
 " He jumped out o' the back window," said Mr. 
 Thomas, with a melancholy shake. " The roof nigh 
 about caught him, but I guess he was pretty well 
 charred, anyhow." 
 
 One side of the house swayed and fell in, sending 
 
204 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 up another long stream of sparkles. Nobody noticed 
 it. The Bunch's fate of homelessness was quickly 
 written out written in flame-red short-hand. But 
 they paid no attention to that : they stood around Jack. 
 

 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TRIBULATION. 
 
 WHEN Jack raised his puffed eyelids and 
 blinked at his brethren and sisters, the first 
 thing his groping hand touched was Arty's head. 
 " Arty ! " he gurgled. 
 " Jacky ! " howled Arty. 
 
 " I thought you were in the fire ! " said Jack, with 
 a freer breath. Arty would have thrown himself on 
 Jack's neck, but was held back. Jack, however, 
 reached after him. 
 
 205 
 
2o6 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 "Where is he? I heard him speak, but I can't 
 see him. I guess something's the matter with my 
 eyes ! " said Jack, with a short chuckle. 
 
 " Something's the matter with your whole face and 
 head," wailed Loo, the twins joining her in a chorus 
 of " ah hoo hoo ! " " You've got all your hair 
 burnt off, and you're blistered to a crisp ! " 
 
 "You dear boy," murmured Allie, " why did you 
 run in the house again when I told you Arty was 
 safe ? " 
 
 " Don't know," said Jack, grinning with agony. 
 "To enjoy it as long as possible, I guess. Is it 
 burnt down ? " 
 
 " Can't you see it's all one heap of flames, and 
 the walls all fallen in but that one on the north 
 side ? " 
 
 " I can't see anything. Am I blind, doctor ? " 
 asked Jack, feeling the doctor's whiskers and specta- 
 cles. 
 
 " We'll try to keep you so for awhile," replied Dr. 
 Darling, fastening bandages on his head, crosswise 
 and up and down, until his nose and mouth were the 
 only samples of it visible. Mrs. Darling, who had 
 brought the bandages, stood near by, comforting 
 Rome and Remus. Rome still trailed the counter- 
 pane like an Indian princess. Rheem had on his 
 
Tribulation . 207 
 
 hat and boots and a long night shirt. Ben was 
 nearly dressed ; but Allie did not know how scantily 
 she was attired until a neighbor wrapped her in a 
 long shawl. And as for Loo, she stood weeping and 
 trembling in somebody's coat. 
 
 " You can walk, now, can't you, Jack, boy ? " 
 asked the doctor. 
 
 Of course he could. He reached out and they 
 lifted him up. Raising his boots high in the air and 
 plunging dizzily he showed them how well he could 
 walk. 
 
 " Still, you won't mind my keeping one arm around 
 you, will you, deary ? " said Alice. 
 
 The doctor took his arm on the other side, and 
 Arty towed him in front by one of his broken sus- 
 penders. 
 
 " We'll take him right over to our house," said the 
 doctor, " and Arty and you must come with him." 
 
 " Loo and Ben will go to my house," said Mother 
 Thomas, grabbing them both with determined hands. 
 " Poor young ones, how you look ! Though, for that 
 matter, I haven't got on much more myself ! " 
 
 "I'll take these chickens," said John White, ap- 
 propriating Rome and Remus. " Bub's got his 
 boots on, and I'll carry the girl." 
 
 " But I want to see how Jack is all the time," 
 
208 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 wailed Maude, hanging to one of John's big fingers. 
 
 " O, you may come and see him all day to-morrow, 
 after Priscilla gets a stitch of clothes on you." 
 
 " Children," called Jack, painfully, to all the sepa- 
 rating Bunch, " we had one more good time, didn't 
 we ? But we've given up the house sooner than we 
 expected to ! " 
 
 Mr. Thomas was heard growling at a little dis- 
 tance what a shame it was that orphan children 
 should be used so, and if there was law worth call- 
 ing law it would gn e them their lots, anyhow. 
 
 " They needn't have given possession till fall, 
 though, if the worst come to worst," said White. 
 
 " O, let 'em go ahead with their elevator, now," 
 laughed Jack, who had to be very merry and chuckle 
 a great deal to keep from groaning. 
 
 " Isn't this yours ? " asked a boy, thrusting some- 
 thing into Alice's hand as she moved off with Jack. 
 It was her watch and chain. She always slept with 
 it under her pillow, and instinctively grasped it in 
 one hand as soon as she waked Loo. It had fallen 
 in the grass after she got outside. 
 
 "Thank you, .dear. Yes, it's mine. Here's my 
 watch, Jack. That's saved." 
 
 "Good!" said Jack. "Doesn't it seem funny, 
 though, that the band of Indian red (oo-oo ! ), and 
 
Tribulation. 209 
 
 the china closet, and the new bed-room furniture 
 (oo-oo ! ), and all our duds, and the swings and the 
 books aren't anywhere at all ? " 
 
 " Don't cry," comforted John White, picking up 
 Maude and her trail. " I'll get ye home to Priscilla, 
 presently, and then you must go to bed and stop 
 chattering your teeth and shaking." 
 
 " Helen and Susan are burnt, too ! " shuddered 
 Maude. "Everything is burnt up. I didn't know 
 last night that I'd never see them again ! " 
 
 " I wonder what started the fire ! " speculated 
 John, as he stretched long steps over the ground. 
 
 " I had some matches in the stable. Six, I guess," 
 confessed Rheem. 
 
 " You young scamp, did you ? " 
 
 " But we never struck any ! " 
 
 "You dropped them around, and something 
 set them off. Maybe you stepped on 'em yourself 
 and lighted 'em, and never noticed it." 
 
 " And the root chair," Rome added to her inven- 
 tory, " and the table and cupboard ! And I haven't 
 any dolls ! " 
 
 The dismal little pair before the end of another 
 half hour were put to bed by Priscilla, and about 
 morning they fell asleep. 
 
 It was ten o'clock when Rome woke from her 
 
210 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 sleep of nervous exhaustion. She was in one of 
 Priscilla's spare bed-rooms, on a great feather-bed, 
 which had the peculiar smell of all its class to such a 
 degree, that the faint sweet scent of the rose-em- 
 balmed sheets could not take it away. The wall was 
 covered with a greenish paper, its ornament being a 
 vine, the leaf whereof was the size of a sunflower, 
 but was evidently a pumpkin leaf. And some of 
 Priscilla's best dresses hung from nails above the 
 head of the bed. The room was so small that 1 
 Maude felt squeezed in it. A flowering shrub shaded 
 the window, and the low reaching arms of the apple 
 trees thrust themselves against the panes. There 
 was a bowl and pitcher on the wash-stand, but when 
 Rome slid to the floor she found no water in them. 
 Neither had she any garments with which to make 
 her toilet. She slipped out barefoot and in her 
 nightgown into the keeping-room. 
 
 Priscilla was a Yankee woman, and all the New 
 England ways of a past generation which she learned 
 from her mother and grandmother were carefully and 
 thriftily preserved in her clean shaded house. In 
 this room there was a fire-place, carefully scoured, 
 and black and gilt chairs, with roses on their straight 
 backs, placed in lines along the wall. 
 
 In one corner stood a huge clock, with a case big 
 
Tribulation. 
 
 211 
 
 "SETH THOMAS." 
 
 enough to hide 
 two or three 
 children in, 
 weights like 
 sledges, and 
 iron hands. 
 The Arabic fig- 
 ures made a cir- 
 cle on its yellow 
 face, and O, 
 how slow it 
 talked ! 
 
 "Tick" a 
 time for due de- 
 liberation, and 
 then, forcibly 
 "tock!" No 
 hurry. None 
 of the clicketty- 
 clack of modern 
 clocks. It 
 looked like a gi- 
 ant. Maude 
 considered how 
 fla t it could 
 crush her by 
 d ropping a 
 
212 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 weight upon her, and what a real iron rod one of its 
 iron hands could prove. All of a sudden it began 
 to rattle as if it would certainly choke to death, and 
 never catch its breath again while time lasted, and 
 then it struck! struck? It banged! It beat ten 
 awful strokes into her head, and she jumped from the 
 floor at every stroke, her black-lashed eyes blinking 
 and her blonde head dodging. And then the old 
 monster settled down as if nothing had happened, 
 or ever would happen again, and said : "Tick " de- 
 liberation " tock ! " and kept on saying it with in- 
 creasing solemnity. 
 
 O, what a clock ! She saw the name " Seth 
 Thomas " printed on its face, and it became an ob- 
 ject of greater fear on account of having a name. 
 For, of course, Seth Thomas was the clock's name, 
 or why should it be printed there. The name 
 sounded strong when she timidly tried it on her ears, 
 and it sounded unbending. Besides Seth Thomas, 
 there were in this impressive room two pots of paper 
 roses, one on each corner of the mantel, and two small 
 silhouette pictures on the wall, of a sharp-nosed lady 
 in a cap and a turn-up nosed gentleman with a high 
 shirt collar, and a long settee without any rockers. 
 
 Maude was so afraid Seth Thomas might make 
 some other demonstration, even more frightful than 
 
Tribulation. 2x3 
 
 his choking, that, clad as she was, she dared not lin- 
 ger here, but ventured to open the door into the 
 dining-room. Through this she saw Rheem washing 
 potatoes out on a porch, in a pair of Mr. White's 
 trousers hanging to his toes, though they were rolled 
 up until they were as bunchy as a Turk's, and in one 
 of Mr. White's linen coats which swept the ground. 
 
 " Here you are ! " said Priscilla, briskly, coming 
 out of the spring-room with her hands full of fruit 
 for pies. " Go into the spring-room and wash, and 
 I'll bring you some clothes." 
 
 Maude patted across the floor, and found towels 
 and abundant water, and peppermint stalks in the 
 water, which gave it extra virtue in her eyes. The 
 destitute child took her bath, and dressed her tan- 
 gled hair with a comb which her hostess provided. 
 She had shoes, for Allie put them on her at the last 
 moment before they ran from the burning building. 
 Priscilla came in presently with an overskirt of her 
 own, and a long calico sacque which made the child 
 look like a dwarf woman, all waist and arms. 
 
 " There's your breakfast," said Mrs. White, point- 
 ing to the warming oven ; and in it Maude found 
 some lovely toast and broiled chicken. She also had 
 a mug of milk and a sweet roll. It was a breakfast 
 to make an orphan forget her troubles. After eating 
 
214 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 it she went and sat down by Rheem. He had his 
 potatoes washed. These he carried to Priscilla, who 
 was in the full tide of putting on the dinner to cook, 
 and then he sat down to take counsel with his twin. 
 
 "Rheem," she exclaimed, " le's start right straight 
 off to see how Jack is ! " 
 
 He glanced down at his apparel and said, reluc- 
 tantly : 
 
 " Don't you think we better wait till about dusk ? " 
 
 " O, no ! What if Jack was dead ! " 
 
 "Jack won't die. He and Ben got their clothes 
 on. I wish I'd got mine on." 
 
 "Rheemie, what we going to do for clothes to 
 wear?" 
 
 " 1 guess we better go to work and earn some, 
 right off." 
 
 " But we can't work in borrowed things." 
 
 " Maybe Mr. and Mrs. White would fix some 
 things for us, and let us pay for them working after- 
 wards." 
 
 "And never go to school any more ? And ne'er 
 see Ben and Allie and Jack and Arty and Loo ? " 
 
 " Na w ! Just till we can get something to wear. 
 Then Mr. McKay will tell us what we must all do. 
 I'm going to ask Mr. White to hire me as soon as he 
 comes in from work." 
 
Tribulation. 215 
 
 Rome endorsed her twin's plans as she usually 
 did. He followed the fieldward road to the men, 
 and she turned all her energies to assisting Mrs. 
 White. She laid the table and did many little er- 
 rands. I have said Priscilla was not as fond of chil- 
 dren as her husband. She was a taciturn woman, 
 kind mainly, but not winning. She scarcely spoke 
 to Maude all the morning, although she felt great 
 compassion for the child. Her mind was taken up 
 with her work. She was planning ahead the churn- 
 ing, the preserving, the baking. 
 
 At half-past eleven, sharp, Maude was allowed to 
 ring the iron bell hanging on a forked post in the 
 back yard ; and, in prompt response to it, the men 
 and horses trooped into the barn-yard. By that time 
 Rome was really tired. She had been so anxious to 
 please, and taken so many unnecessary journeys, and 
 stood so much on her feet, in dread of Priscilla's 
 disapproval if she sat down, that she was quite tired. 
 At table, among the jolly and voracious farm hands, 
 Remus broached his proposition to work for board 
 and clothes, and John laughed heartily and patted 
 him on the back. 
 
 "We'll see about that," said he. "This afternoon 
 I am going to drive into town. You and sis can 
 go along and take a look at the rest of them." 
 
216 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 This the two children gladly did. Maude's cos- 
 tume was heightened by a grave black straw hat of 
 Priscilla's, entirely too large for her. But everybody 
 was so compassionate over the burnt-out Bunch that 
 she found her attire only heightened the interest of 
 her position. 
 
 Jack said he was doing royally ; but his blistered 
 face was terrible, and his eyes had been dressed and 
 bandaged again. Allie had been in the school-room, 
 Arty with her. To lose a day was to lose some frac- 
 tion of her salary, and she dared lose nothing. She 
 looked very well in Mother Darling's clothes. Much 
 better than Loo in Mother Thomas' ; for, Mother 
 Thomas being portly and Loo very slight, she was 
 obliged to overlap and girdle in, and still go about 
 looking quite like a timid giraffe in an elephant skin. 
 Ben had also been at work, but the Bunch now con- 
 vened for council. Mother Darling's babies (she 
 had babies in every stage of infancy) rolled about 
 among them, and crowed or squalled or uttered irre- 
 sistible fragments of speech. Mother Darling her- 
 self was even more charming than when surrounded 
 only by her own army. She winnowed the babies 
 out and kindly left the children to talk by them- 
 selves. Some of the older babies picked up some of 
 the younger ones, and struggled along like cats car- 
 
Tribulation . 217 
 
 rying kittens. All of them were chubby, and all in 
 miraculously-kept fresh white clothes. 
 
 The dazed Bunch, huddling up to Jack's settee, 
 didn't know what to do. 
 
 " We can't stay as we are another day," said Ben. 
 " I must rent a house and put you into it." 
 
 " I wonder if Mr. Joyce will give anybody else my 
 place ? " hinted Jack, anxiously. 
 
 " I wish I had a dress," murmured Rome, feeling 
 a vague dread of Mrs. White's personality envelop- 
 ing her within that awful basque and overskirt. 
 
 They were all unusually still and got hold of each 
 other's hands. It was almost a Quaker meeting, 
 after all. Off their own domains, uprooted and 
 flung one side like weeds, the Dogberrys were some- 
 what wilted. 
 
 When they separated again after one of Mother 
 Darling's exquisite teas, which they tasted sparingly ; 
 for the former young householders were feeling them- 
 selves a burden on the community it was agreed 
 that Ben should summon them to their next meeting 
 as soon as anything definite was decided upon. 
 
 Rome and Remus went home with Mr. White, and 
 both of them with lumps in their throat. It seemed 
 ages ago that their house was burnt. Everybody had 
 got used to it. They felt lost in a boundless sea of 
 
218 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 homelessness. They missed the cheerful stir of 
 home when John set them down in the shady or- 
 chard before driving into the barnyard. Frogs were 
 uttering lonesome cries, and all the summer insects, 
 from the shrill cicada to the musquito, filled the air 
 with minor chords. To crown all, a whippoorwill sat 
 in the orchard and jerked out his doleful exhortation, 
 until Maude's heart swelled to a mountain of heavy 
 throbbing flesh. Priscilla had all her work done ; 
 even the milking pails washed and turned upside 
 down on the garden palings. She sat on the back 
 porch busily stoning fruit for the next day's canning. 
 Her impassive features looked so stolid that Rome 
 sat down very meek and quiet on the lowest step, 
 and Rheem was still and meditative one or two steps 
 above her. They felt quite burnt out and bereft of 
 every tie on earth. Ah, the songs, the scamperings, 
 the cheer of Dogbenydom ! 
 
 " Le's play Hi tally O,' " said Remus, sturdily. 
 And then he remembered that two would make a 
 scanty fox hunt. 
 
 " Have you a croquet set, Mrs. White ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " No. We don't have time for such nonsense." 
 
 This was a witherer. Were all royal good times 
 nonsense ? 
 
Tribulation. 219 
 
 " I believe I'll go to the barn," said Remus. His 
 twin skipped up and patted along beside him. They 
 were humbled and aimless, and snubbed by fate and 
 depressed. When they reached the barn John was 
 gone to a far off pasture to feed stock. 
 
 Before the last red streaks faded out of the sky 
 all the White family retired. Remus went again to 
 a bed in the corner of the immense long room, where 
 the hired men's joking jarred his sore little heart a 
 long time before they went to sleep, and their snor- 
 ing his weary ear when they did finally drop off. 
 
 In the green-vined feather-bed closet Rome lay 
 listening to Seth Thomas. How awful he was ! 
 Nothing else sounded through her silence and des- 
 olation except his " tick ! " and then he kept her 
 breath suspended and her eyes strained " tock ! " 
 If Loo were there, or Allie, or if she could put out 
 her hand and touch Arty in his crib ! What if some- 
 body should come there in the night and carry her 
 off ! How easily anyone could climb off the ground 
 into her window ! She said her prayers, begging 
 fervently that she might not feel afraid any more ; 
 but, whether her faith was weak or her nerves 
 strained, she was almost as much afraid as before. 
 Then Seth Thomas was taken with his hourly fit, 
 and rattled and bdnged nine fearful bangs, and she 
 
22O 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 could not, for her life, help trembling lest he might 
 walk his wonder boots right in at her, and stand glar- 
 ing down with those awful eyes into which they put 
 the key when they wound him up. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DESPERATION. 
 
 THE next day it rained, and Ben did not come. 
 The day after it rained harder. It was only a 
 mile to the center of New Town, but none of the 
 White household had any errand there, and no mes- 
 sage came out to the twins. The third day it had 
 got in the habit of raining and kept on the rest of 
 the week. Mr. White was obliged to go away on a 
 business errand, which he called " looking up stock." 
 
 221 
 
222 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 If the house was somewhat drear when lighted by 
 his hale and genial presence, what was it with him 
 gone, and the rain over it like a jailer ! Rome felt 
 that she could actually gallop five times the distance 
 which separated Rheem and her from the rest of the 
 family ; but how dare she undertake such a feat in 
 Priscilla's borrowed clothes through the rain? 
 
 Never before had these two children felt the actual 
 galling restrictions of poverty. Their outlook was 
 bad enough, but their present was terribly wounding 
 to their delicacy and native independence. They 
 overheard Priscilla remark in her unruffled and terse 
 way, that she didn't like to have children around un- 
 derfoot ! Underfoot ! They, late householders, and 
 actual heirs to a cash fortune ! This fortune now 
 began to look large in their eyes. They consulted 
 about it in whispers, in the porch corners, or cuddling 
 in the prim sitting room together. They were still 
 mindful of their characters as guests and tried to 
 show appreciation of such kindness as was given 
 them ; for they had entertained, and knew how heavy 
 on the hands a sullen or dissatisfied visitor is. But 
 every day they seemed to sink deeper into the posi- 
 tion of little dependents and pensioners. Neither 
 could have analyzed the feeling, but both were de- 
 pressed to the last degree by it. 
 
Desperation. 223 
 
 The sun was in time obliged to shine out once 
 more, and he came most gloriously when he did 
 come. It was a crystal morning, trembling drops 
 hanging on every point ; the grass so fresh that 
 every blade seemed just born ; the air so clear that 
 every object was cut out with distinct edges in it ; 
 the larks and wood thrushes singing as if they would 
 lilt their souls out and die in the next gush. Rome 
 and Remus were so glad they slipped down the front 
 lane and jumped like colts. New Town roofs and 
 walls were plainly visible, and Rome and Remus 
 climbed upon the garden palings looking in that be- 
 loved direction, with some hope that now the clouds 
 would roll off their prospects, too. They saw a fig- 
 ure plodding across the wet fields towards them, and 
 the air magnified so that Rheem was sure it was Ben. 
 They watched it like two forlorn, but spirited mari- 
 ners on a rock in mid-ocean, and waved their hands 
 to the sail coming to their rescue. The sail waved 
 back, and even sent them distant halloos. When it 
 got a little nearer they found it was Jacey Dixon, 
 with his pants girded as usual at the waist, but turned 
 up in the legs until his knobby and bespattered 
 knees poked out. Jacey slouched up, and they felt 
 more enthusiasm at seeing him than he ever before 
 roused in them. 
 
224 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " How do you do, Jace ? Did Ben send ycu ? " 
 
 "No, I guess he didn't!" replied Jace, myste- 
 iously, grinning vacantly at them. Rheem was on 
 top of the fence with his legs through the palings. 
 Rome was poised like a hen, but suspended flying, 
 and even her own breath, to hear Jacey. 
 
 " Are they well ? " she cried. 
 
 " I guess so," replied Jacey. " All but Jack and 
 you knew about him." 
 
 " No we didn't. We haven't seen any of the chil- 
 dren since Tuesday. It's rained so, you know." 
 
 " Are you going to stay here always ? " 
 
 "JVW" cried Rome, with sharp energy. She 
 couldn't bear to think of such a thing. 
 
 " What you goin' to do, then ? " 
 
 " Why, we're waiting till Ben comes for us. Then, 
 we're going home I" 
 
 " Yes, we're going home /" said Maude. 
 
 " Ho ! " said Jacey. 
 
 "Did anyone send you out here? " asked Remus. 
 
 " No. I just come myself. When I saw the oth- 
 ers goin* off I wondered if they was runnin' away to 
 leave you." 
 
 " What you mean ? " cried the twins. 
 
 " Why, didn't you know they've all gone off? " 
 
 " Who's gone off ? " 
 
Desperation. 225 
 
 "Your folks. They went on this morning's train." 
 
 " You're just a-storying." 
 
 " Mebby I am ! I guess I seen 'em, though. I 
 like to know what you're going to do, now." 
 
 " Jace Dixon, you tell us what you mean by saying 
 the rest have gone off and left us ! " 
 
 " I don't mean nothin'. I saw 'em get on the 
 train. And I heard you two was out here, and I 
 wondered if they was leavin' you here to get shut o' 
 ye!" 
 
 " Oh hoo ! " wailed Maude, breaking into pas- 
 sionate sobs and tears. "But Jack isn't gone, I 
 know. He was all blistered in the fire, and the doc- 
 tor had his eyes fastened up ! " 
 
 " Yes he is, too," said Jacey with solemn triumph. 
 " Two or three people led him. He's gone blind in 
 his eyes. Stone blind ! I heard the neighbors say 
 he was goin' to Chicago to have his eyes ampitated." 
 
 " He isn't blind ! " cried Rheem, with vain resist- 
 ance. 
 
 " He is, too," said Jacey. " Blinder'n a fish-worm. 
 He can't work no more, and he'll have to go the 
 poor-house." 
 
 " He won't, either ! I guess we've got money and 
 we'll give him that ! " 
 
 " You needn't feel so big. I guess you haven't 1 
 
226 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 The rest is goin' to git all you've got and take it 
 with them, to buy clothes and things with ; for Jack's 
 hundred dollars won't more'n pay for gittin' his eyes 
 ampitated ! " 
 
 Jacey clawed the spongy meadow sod with his 
 toes, and looked as if he enjoyed himself. Rome 
 wept copiously. Rheem's voice trembled, but he 
 sturdily pursued his investigation. 
 
 " Allie ain't gone, I know, 'cause she's in school." 
 
 " Well, she is, too. They got somebody to take 
 her place. And she took Arty." 
 
 " Loo wouldn't go ! " 
 
 " I bet she would ! They all three had some new 
 clothes on they've been sewin' at all the week." 
 
 " Ben said he'd get a house and then send for us," 
 gasped Remus. 
 
 " He's been gone to Chicago for three or four days, 
 and he sent down word to the rest when to come, 
 too." 
 
 " And they left us ! " wept Maude. 
 
 "There isn't a word of it so!" affirmed Rheem, 
 fiercely. 
 
 "Well, you just go over to New Town and see ! " 
 challenged Jacey. 
 
 "I will," said Rheem. 
 
 " Well, come along," said Jacey. 
 
Desperation. 227 
 
 Maude, clinching with despairing hands the tops 
 of the pickets, watched her twin striding with manly 
 steps across the meadow, trailing John White's linen 
 coat in grandfatherly contrast to Jacey's bare, trot- 
 ting legs. And I cannot begin to tell you how for- 
 saken and terrified she felt on the big earth, though 
 it was so bright. Of course; it wasn't all so a bit! 
 But, if such a thing could be so ! She turned over 
 the terrible possibilities in her mind, and they rolled 
 up mountain high. If somebody could take their 
 lots, and their house could burn down but, no, in- 
 deed, the rest of the Bunch would never go off and 
 leave two of the young ones so ! 
 
 The sun grew hot before Rheem came back. The 
 earth steamed, the leaves began to cast startling 
 shade in the vivid light ; but she sat on the pickets, 
 bare-headed and almost breathless, waiting for her 
 twin. He appeared at the farther side of the past- 
 ure ; he came nearer, and, as he approached, Maude 
 could hear an irrepressible, minor note which 
 sounded like " boo-hoo ! " till he came so near she 
 could see the tears dripping down his downy rounded 
 face. The linen coat swayed behind him, and his 
 little shirt collar was thrown back, as if he could not 
 bear its pressure on his throbbing neck. Maude 
 now took flight from her long poise, and flopped over 
 
228 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 the fence to stagger up to him, and slide her arm 
 around John White's coat. 
 
 "What's the matter, Rheemie ? Did that Jacey 
 Dixon hurt you ? He's just as naughty as he can 
 be!" 
 
 "No," sobbed Remus, now completely broken 
 down, " they are gone ! " 
 
 " Not Ben and Allie ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir!" 
 
 "And Jack and Arty?" 
 
 " Yes, they are ! " 
 
 " And Loo ? " 
 
 " They've all gone and left us here ! " 
 
 Oh, desolation ! They lifted up their voices and 
 wept together, until Priscilla in the kitchen heard 
 them, and looked out toward the milking pasture to 
 see if anything was the matter with her pet calves. 
 Rome and Remus, behind the farthest palings of the 
 garden, were in another direction. 
 
 " Who told you ? " asked Maude, clinging to the 
 last straw of hope. 
 
 " I went and peeked in at the doctor's, and none 
 of them were there. And I peeked in at the school, 
 and none of them were there. And I saw Mr. 
 Thomas, and he said they did go in the early train 
 this morning." 
 
Desperation. 22$ 
 
 *' O, I wish we'd run over last night, then they'd 
 ta L .en us along ! " 
 
 " Fumph, I don't ! " said Remus, hotly. " I don't 
 want to stick in where I ain't wanted ! " 
 
 " Not wanted ! " repeated Rome, aghast. It was a 
 new view of herself to see herself not wanted in the 
 home Bunch. 
 
 " They've gone off and left us," hiccoughed Re- 
 mus, indignantly. " We can go off by 0#rselves, too ! 
 We ain't going to care ! " 
 
 Maude was not quite sure for herself. 
 
 " I want to see Arty ! " she broke out. 
 
 And, upon second thought : 
 
 " I want to see Allie and Ben ! " 
 
 And, her heart being now wide open : 
 
 "I want to see poor Jack and Loo! Oh- 
 hoo ! " 
 
 " I don't want to see any of 'em ! " said Rheem, 
 with bunched up eyebrows. " I don't care anything 
 about 'em ! " 
 
 " Yes, you do ! " said Rome, decidedly. " And, 
 maybe they sent for us and the word didn't get 
 here." 
 
 " Ho ! Couldn't get a mile ! " 
 
 "Or, maybe they're waiting to buy some new 
 clothes to send back to us." 
 
230 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Remus shook his head, sidewise, this motion in- 
 dicating that clothes were not going to salve his deep 
 indignation at this late day. 
 
 " What we going to do ? " then inquired his twin. 
 
 This dried his eyes and roused his energies. 
 
 " We've just got to look out for ourselves ! " 
 
 Maude believed him, and waited to see which way 
 he would look. But, with feminine tact, ^she put in a 
 pebble to turn the stream. 
 
 " I believe Mrs. White wishes we were at some- 
 body else's house." 
 
 " Well, we won't stay much longer at her house ! " 
 
 " Nobody wants us, Rheemie." 
 
 " Well, we don't care. Le's sit down and study 
 up what to do." 
 
 " We da'sn't here. We'll get Mr. and Mrs. White's 
 clothes dirty. Oh, Rheem, why didn't you hold up 
 that coat-tail ? " 
 
 " I don't care how splashed it gets." replied the 
 boy with calm deliberation. " I'll sit down in that 
 puddle with it if I'm a mind to ! " 
 
 " Don't ! " begged his companion in tribulation. 
 '* Le's climb over in the woods and find a clean log 
 where it's shady." 
 
 This they did. It appeared on reviewing the situa- 
 tion that they were both too dejected to plan with 
 
NOBILITY IN DISGUISE. 
 

 Desperation. 233 
 
 any brilliancy ; and moreover, their costumes limited 
 them to very narrow boundaries. They were too 
 honest to carry away the borrowed clothing, which at 
 present served them as a covering, though it did not 
 by any means render them objects of envious admira- 
 tion. But they were one in wishing to get away from 
 under Priscilla's feet. Their situation as they looked 
 at it was truly desperate. They had a pair of boots, 
 a pair of shoes, some underclothing and a bed-spread 
 between them. No other clothing or portable prop- 
 erty. And whither should they depart, since nobody 
 wanted them ? It was a hard problem. 
 
 " We might go to Chicago, too," suggested Maude, 
 with a sneaking desire to be near the others of the 
 Bunch, in spite of their strange desertion. 
 
 " Wouldn't they all stare to see us come walking 
 into town ! " speculated Remus, which observation 
 was a very just one when their travelling suits are 
 taken into consideration. 
 
 They consulted, and wagged their heads for about 
 sixty minutes by Seth Thomas' slow calculation ; 
 though he could know nothing about it, away off in 
 the shaded sitting-room, staring straight ahead of 
 him, and choking regularly every hour. 
 
 Priscilla got dinner ready, and thought a great deal 
 about pickling. Her husband rode into the yard 
 
234. The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 before the household sat down, and as soon as he 
 entered the house he asked for the children. 
 
 "They're around somewhere," said Priscilla. 
 
 "I've brought some clothes for them," said John, 
 opening the sitting-room door and tossing a bundle, 
 directly in front of Seth Thomas' unwinking counte- 
 nance, to the settee, " and some news," added John. 
 " What move do you think that little tribe has taken 
 now ? Doc. Darling says Jack's is a bad case. The 
 eyes are pretty badly hurt ; he's afraid the boy'll 
 never see again. Anyhow, he thought the boy better 
 go to a good oculist. It's an expensive thing, and 
 they all broken up and burnt out so. Ben went up to 
 see how he could manage. Those young ones are 
 either lucky or so plucky they won't be beat. He found 
 something to do, and went straight and answered an 
 advertisement in a daily about some rooms, and 
 rented some, and the woman he rented them of took 
 a fancy to him. I suppose the young one told her 
 about his sisters, and she wanted to know if one of 
 them could tend to her housekeeping for her. So 
 Ben, he sends down for the whole pack. And they 
 all pack up except our two. Allie had to buy some 
 ready-made clothes to fit them out, and McKay's to 
 take 'em up to-morrow he's going up anyhow on 
 business. I reckon they'll pass two such little chaps 
 
Desperation. 235 
 
 over the railroad for nothing, and if they won't, I'll 
 see they get their fare paid. Allie sent a note telling 
 them all about it with the clothes. The train stopped 
 at Carver City for breakfast, and she run up town 
 and got the things and sent them right back ; Joyce 
 give 'em to me to bring out. She said she was 
 uneasy about the two young ones for fear they would 
 feel cut up at being left a day behind, but it's in 
 Jack's favor; they want to get something done for 
 him as quick as they can. Ho, Rheem ! " cried John, 
 stepping to the edge of the porch, "ho, Maddie ! 
 Come here ! got something for ye. Where are they ? " 
 
 "Oh, not far off," said Priscilla, "they'll get hun- 
 gry and come in pretty soon sit down to dinner." 
 
 But Rome and Remus were some distance off, 
 stepping along in the densest part of the woods, like 
 a pair of white Siamese twins, the spread folded 
 equally over their tropical garments, and Rome, feel- 
 ing more humiliation than her mate who had less 
 delicacy and more love for adventure, of course, was 
 saying under her breath with a sob, " It's just as 
 mean as dirt, so it is ! " 
 
 John White, going into the sitting-room to unfold 
 his weekly paper after dinner, found on the door-step 
 his linen coat and loaned trousers lying folded nicely 
 beside Priscilla's long calico basque and overskirt, 
 
236 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 and his kind lips pulled themselves away out in front 
 of his face for a mighty whistle. He took one step 
 into the dining-room: 
 
 " Jerusalem artichokes, Priscilla ! " 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MISS GAFF AND SMALLER FRY. 
 
 C 
 
 HICAGO 
 opened 
 her arms not 
 unkindly to the 
 Bunch. How 
 huge and love- 
 ly she looked 
 to their village 
 eyes ! They 
 came not by 
 hack, I assure 
 you, n o r b y 
 street car, but quietly patting along on their own feet, 
 through street after street, over crossing after crossing, 
 to the building in which Ben had rented rooms, and 
 Allie, who gave up her school to stay by the others, 
 hoped to find employment. They led Jack between 
 two of them. Arty was a good traveller, and only 
 237 
 
238 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 asked to hold some one's dress or hand while his 
 great eyes took in all the strange sights, and his 
 boots kept time with the family march. 
 
 They had no luggage to move. 
 
 The house, when they arrived before it, towered 
 high above their heads and was squeezed in a long 
 row of houses, all so exactly alike that they looked 
 like palings in a fence ; all painted alike, but with 
 different numbers on their foreheads. It was built 
 of brick and approached by a flight of steps. They 
 approached it and raflg the bell. The street was not 
 a stylish one, but it looked very nice, and Loo 
 thought she got a glimpse of the lake from the top of 
 the steps. 
 
 " What lake ? " asked Arty, who had been quiet 
 during the whole day's run on the train, absorbing 
 everything with his eyes. 
 
 " Lake Michigan," replied Ben. 
 
 "What is Lake Michigan ?" 
 
 " A great big pond," replied Jack. 
 
 The door was opened by a German girl, with a 
 good-natured but stupid look. They made quite a 
 formidable little party on the steps, and she stared 
 at them. 
 
 " We are the folks who are to live on the top 
 floor," said Ben. 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 239 
 
 At this she opened the door wide, and they all 
 entered. 
 
 " Is Miss Gaff in ? " inquired Ben. 
 
 " No," replied Minnie, in the high key peculiar to 
 German voices. " She gone to see her patients. 
 She been home to dinner-time." 
 
 " We'll just go up-stairs," said Ben ; and they pro- 
 ceeded to mount, the girls walking on either side of 
 Jack, and Ben leading Arty, who toiled up flight 
 after flight, purring louder on every landing. 
 
 " My gracious, Ben ! are we going to the sky ? " 
 asked Allie. 
 
 "Sometime, I hope. But just now we're going -to 
 the fourth floor." 
 
 The stairs were uncarpeted, but they were built of 
 dark, rich-colored wood. There was a heavy, sub- 
 stantial air about the whole building. 
 
 When they got to the top they found a kind of ves- 
 tibule, which opened into a set of rocms, five in num- 
 ber. Allie looked around, wondering blankly how 
 she should ever furnish them. They were pretty as 
 they were, however. The walls were finished in 
 rough plaster, and every room done in a particular 
 kind of wood. That one overlooking the street was 
 finished in oak, the one next it in cherry ; a small 
 entry and the bath-room, which divided these two 
 
240 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 from the rest of the set, were in walnut, and the re- 
 mainder, being in the darker part of the house, in 
 ash. Real woods, polished, without any varnish. 
 The windows were double, and each sash contained 
 but one pane of plate glass. There were two gas 
 chandeliers, the gas coming through burners at the 
 sides of the rooms. Loo was impressed with the 
 possible beauty of the place, and especially with the 
 grates ; there being one in every room except that 
 one designed for the kitchen, where a small range 
 waited. 
 
 " We sha'n't have to buy any stoves ! " she ex^ 
 claimed in ecstasy. " These are lots prettier than 
 the old Franklin, too ! " 
 
 " Isn't the rent awful high ? " asked Allie, suspi- 
 ciously. 
 
 '* It's two hundred a year," said Ben, " but we 
 might have had to pay half as much more for the 
 worst kind of places. Rents are always high in 
 tbwns; and mind, Allie, the rent's to come out of 
 what Miss Gaff pays you for keeping house for her." 
 
 " I hope I'll suit her." 
 
 " The reason that we get these rooms so low is, 
 that Miss Gaff bought this house in the row, and she 
 won't take anybody for tenants except folks who hap- 
 pen to please her. She's very particular. I guess 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 241 
 
 our being from the country was a good deal in our 
 favor. There are three floors besides the basement. 
 She has t^e first floor ; the second one's empty, and 
 we took the third. All the families in the house 
 can have their washing done in the basement. There 
 are drying places and all." 
 
 " But think," cried housekeeper Loo, " of dragging 
 the water for cooking clear up all those stairs, and 
 carrying slops down " 
 
 " Look here," said Ben, stepping up to the kitchen- 
 sink near which he happened to be. He turned on 
 the cold water, then the steaming hot water, and they 
 all saw it sink away with great admiration. They 
 were initiated into all the mysteries and conven- 
 iences of the flat even Jack, who poked his finger 
 under the hot stream and jumped, saying, " Christo- 
 pher Columbus ! " and, while his quick hands felt sil- 
 ver faucets, or smooth wood, or promising grate, 
 could not help crying out : " Oh, children, I wish I 
 could see ! " 
 
 " Bless your dear old head ! " said Allie, patting 
 his bandages, "you shall see after 'while ! " 
 
 "Jacky," cried Arty, pulling him by the trousers' 
 leg to something he admired, " can't you see this ? 
 Jacky, look right tight at it can't you see it ? " 
 
 " I'd rather see you, Muggins. Give me a good 
 

 242 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 square hug, will you ? A g^od square one, mind, 
 not one of your little squeezes." 
 
 Jack dropped on his knee, and he and Arty 
 clasped arms around each other for the " squarest " 
 and heartiest kind of an embrace ; then Arty put 
 some sugar kisses on the tip of Jack's visible nose, 
 and not a disappointing "dog-kiss," among them. 
 Arty was five years old, but always Jack's baby. 
 
 " Now," said Ben, " let's sit down and see how we 
 stand." 
 
 This rather contradictory thing they proceeded to 
 do. They camped in a huddle on the polished 
 floor. 
 
 " I've got," said the young pater-familias, turning 
 out the contents of his pocket-book, " after paying 
 for four of us Arty was passed ten dollars ! We 
 don't owe a cent in New Town." 
 
 "That's a blessing," said Allie, "and," turning 
 out her own portemonnaie, " after paying fifteen dol- 
 lars for things for Maude and Rheem, and part for 
 the clothes we have on we girls I have twenty 
 dollars out of my last month's salary." 
 
 " And there was the Association Fund," said Jack, 
 " that we put in Mr. Joyce's safe over at the station." 
 
 " We put that into the house, you know." 
 
 "O yes, so we did. I'd just drawn my money be- 
 
Miss Gaff ana Smaller Fry. 243 
 
 
 
 fore the house burnt, so I've no cash to stock in, 
 now. I'd 'a got a place to be telegraph-operator, 
 soon," mourned Jack, aside. 
 
 " Thirty-five dollars. That's a pretty slim stock to 
 go to housekeeping on ! " 
 
 " Yes, but it's considerably better than nothing." 
 
 " So it is ! " they all exclaimed. 
 
 "We must pay half a month's rent in advance out 
 of it," said Ben ; " but I go right to work the first of 
 the week, and we can get things as we need them. 
 First thing I do, I'll order a load of coal to cook 
 with." 
 
 "And where'll we put it ? " cried Loo, aghast. 
 
 This led to a pilgrimage to the coal-closet, which 
 they found on opening a smooth-finished door i.n the 
 vestibule. 
 
 "The man that brings it will find the closet,'' said 
 Ben. 
 
 Then they camped again. Allie took out her lead- 
 pencil and a bit of paper to make a list of things they 
 needed at once. She hesitated, looked anxious. 
 
 " Our rent out, Ben, how much will that leave ? " 
 
 " Twenty-seven dollars and sixty-two and half 
 cents." 
 
 " Then there will be Rome and Rheem's fare ? " 
 
 "I think they'll come half price. I'll settle 
 with Mr. McKay." 
 
244 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 "We're under obligations to all the good New 
 Town folks who took us after the fire. I'll crochet 
 white woolen sacques for all Mrs. Darling's babies 
 before Christmas" then the magnitude of this un- 
 dertaking appearing to her, Allie, amended, " or, for 
 as many as I can. Well, say we have twenty-seven 
 dollars." 
 
 " We'll not need cupboards," said Loo, pointing to 
 the shelved closets. 
 
 " And we can camp with very, very few dishes un- 
 til we get more money. Six plates, six cups, and sau- 
 cers O, the spoons, the knives, the forks ! how 
 they'll cost ! " 
 
 " Don't forget assorted platters," put in Loo, *' and 
 four or five vegetable covers, and twelve little fruits " 
 
 "Loo Dogberry, do you know we shall have to buy 
 every potato and every scrap of fruit we eat ? We 
 have no garden, now ! " 
 
 " We'll have to get pots and pans and a broiler 
 
 " No we shan't," cried Ben, opening a closet be- 
 side the end of the range and showing the range's 
 full outfit. 
 
 " O, what a blessed place ! " cried Loo, in ecstasy. 
 
 " What are we going to sleep on ? " inquired Jack, 
 whose head was, even then, aching uncomplainingly 
 for a place to lay itself. 
 
 The rest slared at each other, aghast. 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 245 
 
 "If we buy as much as one bed-room set," said 
 A-llie, in despair, " it'll take all we've got, and leave 
 nothing to buy food and we mustn't think of car- 
 pets ! " 
 
 " Why should we ? " cried Ben. " They aren't the 
 thing in this kind of a house. Look at the floors ! 
 Do you suppose they finished them up in that way 
 to be covered ? Miss Gaff says all they ought to 
 have is a drugget in the middle ; and we'll buy drug- 
 gets when we get farther along." 
 
 Loo looked at the narrow, glistening boards not 
 unkindly. 
 
 "They'll be easily washed," she said. 
 
 " I'll go," said Ben, after profound thought, " and 
 buy two large mattresses and a little one, and some 
 coal, and something to eat, and a mighty few dishes. 
 That seems best, doesn't it, Allie ? The mattresses 
 will cost about fifteen dollars. We can put 'em up 
 on bedsteads when we can afford the bedsteads. It's 
 so warm we sha'n't need covers." 
 
 "That'll do firstrate," said Allie, "and we'll pick 
 our bed-rooms. O, we'll get fixed up lovely one of 
 these days ! " 
 
 "I tell you, now," cried Jack, "take that hundred 
 dollars of mine and get what you want. You can 
 get it of Mr. McKay, treasurer." 
 
 "No, sir," said Ben, firmly, "we won't, my son. 
 
246 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Vou'll need it all ; and, as to the children's money, 
 we'll never touch that. Suppose anything should 
 happen to us older ones, they'd have nothing to fall 
 back upon." 
 
 ''Now, Loo," said Allie, " let's make a list of only 
 what we must have. Plates, cups I wonder if we 
 can't do without cups ? knives knives and forks. 
 Oh dear ! " 
 
 " Something to eat,first," begged Ben. " The easi- 
 est way would be for us all to go to a restaurant, but 
 we can't afford to think of it. Loo, couldn't you 
 heat the kettle and make some coffee ? And I'll get 
 a baker's big loaf and some potatoes and I think a 
 beefsteak would be best for us." 
 
 They were agreed on that, Loo admonishing her 
 market-bound brother not to forget salt and butter. 
 
 " For this time," said she, with alacrity, " when 
 I've broiled the steak, I'll cut it up and put it be- 
 tween slices of bread with this big knife ; and 
 here's a dipper, we can take turns drinking out of 
 that ! O, milk, Ben, milk and sugar ! " 
 
 Ben made memoranda and shook his head. 
 
 " We'll have to be very careful," said he. 
 
 " Ben, what sort of woman is Miss Gaff ? " inquired 
 the bandaged boy, who was obliged to paint inward 
 pictures for himself now. 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 247 
 
 " Well, she's real nice. She isn't very tall nor very 
 short, but pretty thin." 
 
 " Is she pretty ? " asked Allie. 
 
 " She's good-looking." 
 
 " What did the girl mean by saying she had gone 
 to see her patients ? " asked Loo. 
 
 "Why, she's a doctor !" 
 
 " A doctor ! I think a woman doctor must be hor- 
 rid ! " 
 
 Jack tugged at his bandages. " Bring her up ! 
 Let me see her. I never saw a woman doctor in my 
 life." " [ tell you, now, she 's smart ! " cried Ben. 
 "Anybody could tell that by looking at her, and to see 
 her get into her buggy when it's brought to the door, 
 and pick up the lines and drive off." 
 
 " Does she wear a plug hat and carry pill-bags ? " 
 asked Jack, excitedly. 
 
 " No ! what are you talking about ! She wears a 
 pretty little hat, and takes her medicine in a kind of 
 case, though I guess she always has a lot more hid 
 about the buggy. She makes lots of money." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 " When I was here the day I came for rooms, four 
 or five persons called for her. She has her office on 
 the first floor at one side of the hall." 
 
 Allie was looking dejected. She did not enjoy the 
 situation. 
 
248 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " I'll have to send coal first, " said Ben, returning 
 to the original subject, as a matter of course, " and 
 I'll send it from the very first coal-yard I see; and 
 some kindling. " 
 
 He was going out into the vestibule when a pat of 
 steps coming up the stairs made him pause. 
 
 " Here she comes, I do believe ! " 
 
 Pat, pat, pat. Firm, light and swift. 
 
 " Oh, you're there, are you, paterfamilias ? Did 
 you bring your family ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," replied Ben, pushing the door wide; 
 " here they are." 
 
 Miss Gaff came in among them ; she wore a black 
 cashmere, trimmed with silk, fitting her closely, but 
 trailing slightly; a gold watch and black woven guard ; 
 her heavy brown hair was coiled on the top of her 
 head, and straight, unruly bits of it strayed into her 
 neck ; spotless collar and cuffs, a round gold brooch; 
 a pleasant face with a reddish tint, large eyes and 
 broad nose : this was Miss Gaff. 
 
 An atmosphere of beneficence tempered with a 
 tendency to harmless prejudices, entered with her 
 The children all rose up from the floor. She made 
 first for Jack: 
 
 ** Why, what's the matter with the little man's eyes ? " 
 
 " He was the one that got burnt, ma'am. " 
 
 " Badly ? " 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 251 
 
 " So he's been bandaged ever since. You know I 
 told you that our house burned down ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and I must have a look at those eyes. " 
 
 She turned towards Allie : " This is your oldest 
 sister ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, the one that is to keep house for 
 you. And this is Loo and this is our baby, Arty. " 
 
 Miss Gaff shook hands with all of them ; she had 
 a long, slender white hand, soft, but firm to the touch. 
 
 " Well, make yourselves at home," said she. " Of 
 course, Miss Allie, you'll want to get things running 
 comfortably up here before you begin with me. How 
 do you like the flat ? " 
 
 The Bunch chorused heartily that they thought it 
 was splendid. 
 
 Miss Gaff led them over it again, and showed them 
 conveniences which they had not discovered. 
 
 " When will your furniture come ? " she asked. 
 
 The Bunch looked at each other, and from smiling 
 shamefacedly, proceeded on to a broad laugh. 
 
 " When we earn it, ma'am ! " said Ben. 
 
 " Oh, you lost everything in the fire. That was too 
 bad. " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, and we're obliged to go slow in get- 
 ting things till we can make things work around right 
 
252 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 11 It was too bad, " repeated Miss Gaff. " But 1 
 thought there were seven of you ? " 
 
 11 The twins are coming on to-morrow. " 
 
 " Twins, eh ? Well, how are you going to arrange 
 your rooms ?" 
 
 It was very easy to be confidential with Miss Gaff. 
 They all ran and showed her which room was to be 
 the boys', which the girls', which the dining-room and 
 which the parlor. She was very cheerful and busi- 
 ness-like. And for their encouragement told them 
 how hard she had worked in her own life, first to 
 support herself after her father, who had been worth 
 several hundred thousand dollars, failed ; and next 
 to learn her profession and next to get established 
 in it. 
 
 " But there are people now, " said Miss Gaff, en- 
 thusiastically, to the Bunch, with pardonable pride in 
 her success, " who have faith in no other physician, 
 and who telegraph back to me for orders when they 
 leave the city. Some of the very ones who thought 
 medicine was not a fit calling for a woman ! " 
 
 She was full of oddities, and queer confidences and 
 kind impulses. She was a lady about thirty-six years 
 old, with an older benignity about her which suited 
 her style and profession. 
 
 Ben offered her half a month's rent in advance. 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 253 
 
 This was simply a guaranty of good faith on his part, 
 for the arrangement was that she should pay Allie a 
 hundred a year over and above the rent if the plan 
 proved mutually agreeable. But coming in without 
 bag or baggage, Ben and Allie both felt that their 
 respectability demanded an advance, for fear unfore- 
 seen circumstances might terminate the engagement 
 before it was fairly entered into on Allie's part. 
 
 Miss Gaff put their money back into Ben's pocket- 
 book herself, strapped it up and told him not to let 
 her hear of it again. She then told them all to come 
 down and dine with her, and would hear of no ex- 
 cuses, after which she went down-stairs and Ben took 
 Allie with him to select such necessary articles as 
 their money would buy. They ordered coal and 
 bought matresses ; and having fully thirty-five dollars 
 since the rent was not deducted, gratefully got a table 
 and some towels, besides the kitchen supplies, Ben at 
 first proposed. The table-ware demanding time and 
 consideration, they postponed selecting any until next 
 morning, for Miss Gaff might wait dinner for them. 
 
 " We'll picnic for breakfast, " said Allie. 
 
 Minnie did not let them in. She was serving up 
 dinner. Miss Gaff's coachman opened the door and 
 showed them into a parlor through the second door 
 in the hall. It was a very queer parlor. The other 
 
254 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 children had been rung down and were surrounding 
 Miss Gaff, while she showed them some of the bottle 
 wonders of her museum. One whole end of the 
 room was a cabinet, carefully covered with glazed 
 doors to keep dust and meddlesome fingers out of 
 Miss Gaff's treasures. She had pickled toads and 
 snakes of the strangest species, from the flat-headed 
 copper-snake of the North, to the asp of Egypt. She 
 had a shark's jaws with three rows of horrible notched 
 teeth in it ; an Aztec's skull ; fossil pappooses j res- 
 urrection plants looking like dried branches, but when 
 she put one in water it spread out delicately, as full 
 of life as the freshest flower; minerals and fossils 
 without number, all labelled and in the nicest order ; 
 a stone full of garnets, and any quantity of quartz 
 with heavy gold streaks leading through it. Miss 
 Gaff seemed to have pushed these precious minerals 
 into a corner, and rather to dislike the sight of them, 
 at which the children wondered, but they afterwards 
 learned why. The beloved part of her collection 
 was the bottled monsters ; she pointed at the beauty 
 of their construction and gave an animated little lec- 
 ture on their habits in life. Arty, however, was best 
 pleased with an exhibition she gave them with a little 
 gray cone, the size of your thumb-end. She touched 
 a match to the tip it began to hiss and rise up, scaly 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 255 
 
 fold over scaly fold till it lay a coil-of-dust-snake on 
 the table. He never saw such a firework before. 
 
 Minnie rang the bell and Miss Gaff led her guests 
 out to dinner. Loo was crowded back, and making 
 a misstep pushed the door behind her; something 
 began to clatter in that corner at the end of the cab- 
 inet : she looked, and sprang straight up with a 
 shriek, for there was a human skeleton dancing airily 
 on nothing and seeming to make fantastic offers of 
 its hands to give her a swing ! 
 
 " Oh, don't be startled, " said Miss Gaff, looking 
 back; " its only Bony ; I dissected and put him to- 
 gether myself with some assistance about cleaning 
 the bones. " 
 
 Loo felt profound respect for Miss Gaff, but her 
 flesh crept on her own bones in spite of reasoning. 
 
 " Hollo ! what's this ? " exclaimed Ben, " I'm step- 
 ping on something." 
 
 " Let me see. Why, it's one of my little shell- 
 turtles ! " 
 
 " It's a rosette off a slipper, isn't it ? " asked Allie. 
 
 But she dropped it like a coal as its pointed tail 
 and groping head appeared and disappeared. 
 
 Miss Gaff laughed, and gathering it up tenderly 
 carried it into the dining-room and placed it in a sort 
 of terrapin-pen, where tortoise-backs in as many 
 
256 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 stages of development as Mrs. Darling's babies were 
 slowly disporting themselves. Before sitting down to 
 table she showed them her aquarium, which was 
 beautiful. Miss Gaff allowed no one to attend to it 
 but herself, and built up the arch of stones in the 
 middle of it a-fresh every morning. 
 
 " I always rise at about five o'clock, " she said. " I 
 cannot sleep in the morning, and it usually keeps me 
 till business hours finding my pets and renovating 
 their houses. Where is Stripey ? " she exclaimed, 
 looking about blankly ; " why, he's slipped out of his 
 box into the room, some place ! " 
 
 " Who is Stripey ? " asked Loo, beginning to feel 
 cold streaks down her spine. 
 
 " Oh, he's my little spotted snake but you needn't 
 feel afraid of him a mite, he's perfectly harmless " 
 
 " O o oh ! " cried Allie, with a little shriek 
 " something's on my foot round my ankle ! " 
 
 And in sympathy with her the. children all began to 
 execute a kind of war-dance. 
 
 Miss Gaff, laughingly, stooped down and disen- 
 tangled her pet from the trembling girl, and held him 
 up in her hands, to show how harmless he was. But 
 his scaly back, his sinuous length and diamond 
 points of eyes made them instinctively shudder with 
 ancient hatred of the snake, while they sincerely tried 
 to admire. 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 257 
 
 "Naughty boy, " cooed Miss Gaff, while she put 
 him back into a box half full of earth, and furnished 
 with all the conveniences of snake domestic life, 
 " did he get out and look all over de house for his 
 mistress, and get on de strange lady's ankle ? He 
 often coils round my feet," she explained to the 
 Bunch, "and lies sunning himself there while I am 
 studying, with the tip of his tail curled around his 
 neck, as contentedly as a kitten." 
 
 The children tried to fancy his snakeship purring, 
 to complete the picture of his innocence. They sat 
 down to table and found a bountiful dinner. There 
 was roast veal, a great variety of vegetables, but first 
 of all a very nice soup ; and dessert plates of pie 
 and an iced pudding, with cheese, waited' on the side- 
 board for the change. 
 
 " Minnie cooks decently," said Miss Gaff, " but 
 she needs some one to look after her all the time. 
 Now she has forgotten to put on the salts ! " She 
 touched a bell, Minnie appeared, and breathing apol- 
 ogies when she found what was wanted, produced 
 the salt-bottles from a shelf of the side-board. 
 
 As she came in, a bound, a scuffle and a bark fol- 
 lowed her, and six dogs, wagging their tails nearly off 
 and all attracted to Miss Gaff as planets are pulled 
 to the sun, jumped up in bunches and by pairs, and 
 
258 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 singly on the back of her chair, licking her face. 
 
 " Why, why, why ! " exclaimed Miss Gaff, who had 
 now finished pouring the coffee, "couldn't dey stay 
 out one evening, but must dey come to see dey mis- 
 tis anyhow ? " 
 
 " Yowp ! " yelled the Newfoundland. 
 
 " Woo wooh ! " declared the snowy Spitz. 
 
 " Wee e ! " whined an ebony-nosed terrier twist- 
 ing himself nearly in two with delight. 
 
 " Bowwh ! " burst out Luck)', a house-dog, so 
 heavy and awkward and large that his tail, which kept 
 up a circular motion like a windmill, was in danger of 
 knocking over something or some small person. 
 
 Wix, a shaggy black and white mongrel who looked 
 like a dwarfed Newfoundland, went off into a succes- 
 sion of barks, and a very slender, graceful hound 
 placed his paws on the table and looked at all the 
 company. 
 
 " Shall I put them out, ma'am ? " asked Minnie, 
 about to return to the kitchen. 
 
 " No ; let them be ; they want to get acquainted 
 with the folks. Wix, my little boy, put your hair out 
 of your eyes ! " 
 
 Wix, whose shaggy locks half hid his bright orbs, 
 certainly made great efforts with his tail, but wag he 
 never so hard, he couldn't wag his eyes clear. Miss 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 259 
 
 Gaff gave him a bite of veal and all the other dogs 
 made a focus of their noses in the spot where Wix 
 snapped it. Arty was greatly amused, but he drew 
 his legs up under him when the hound's cold rose 
 investigated the backs of them. 
 
 " Do they stay in the kitchen ? " inquired 
 Alice, with some hesitation. 
 
 Miss Gaff laughed. " Were you * going to give no- 
 tice ' if they did ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! " exclaimed Allie. 
 
 " They have a kennel of their own in the back 
 yard," continued their mistress ; " a separate apart- 
 ment for every dog in it. They get along splendidly 
 together. I daren't let them run in the streets, so I 
 give them the run of my rooms. Sometimes I take 
 one or two in the buggy with me. They are quite a 
 happy family. " 
 
 The dogs, whose voices had been joining in a low 
 growl over a plate Miss Gaff had filled and set for 
 them, with a napkin under it, on the carpet, now 
 raised a terrific snarl and several yelps, while Wix 
 came toward her carrying one paw, and tears in his 
 eyes if one could see them. 
 
 " You naughty boys ! " cried their mistress, " just 
 when I'm telling how peaceable you are ! Did they 
 bite his foot ? " 
 
260 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 She reached down and took the plate away from 
 them, and they all wagged their tails and squatted in 
 pleading repentance ; but not another morsel were 
 they allowed to have before company; she made 
 them all go and sit in a disconsolate row by tfce wall, 
 where they blinked, or licked their chops or snapped 
 at a fly excepting Wix, whose foot had fallen a prey 
 to some of his brethren's ill-nature ; him she allowed 
 to sit beside her skirt, and this favor so elated him 
 that he beat the floor with his tail to that degree it 
 seemed he would either break through into the cellar 
 or irreparably damage his tail. As dinner proceeded 
 and Miss Gaff's protecting kindness towards all 
 creatures became more and more apparent, the chil- 
 dren were quite fascinated by her. Their company 
 seemed .good for her, also ; she was very attentive to 
 their wants, and as busy as the matron of a very large 
 orphan asylum. She ate very little herself, but Allie 
 observed she was an exquisite epicure, and even dis- 
 turbed by the way dishes were set on the table. Allie 
 resolved when she took Miss Gaff's housekeeping in 
 hand, to take the table-laying into her own hands and 
 make a fine art of it. Minnie changed their plates, 
 and they took dessert. Miss Gaff had new coffee 
 made and ordered down a certain old set of painted 
 china cups to drink the dessert coffee from. 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 261 
 
 " By the way, " said she, " have you bought table- 
 ware yet ? " 
 
 " We're going out to pick some in the morning, " 
 began Ben. 
 
 "You needn't. I have a dinner set in the closet 
 that I never use I don't like the pattern, and I like 
 to mix my table-ware now, and not have things so 
 uniform. You can use it till you get rich and proud 
 enough to refurnish your table according to your 
 minds. " 
 
 " But if anything should get broken, " said Loo, 
 anticipating the distress of such an accident. 
 
 " Pooh ! Take it and use it. Minnie, wash up 
 that dinner set we never use, and take it up-stairs. 
 Come here, sirs," said Miss GafT, immediately, bring- 
 ing the dogs out to turn aside any grateful speeches, 
 " now sit up ! " 
 
 They all set on their haunches, the Newfoundland, 
 the lubber, the hound, the Spitz, the terrier and Wix. 
 Their fore paws hung down helplessly and their tails 
 moved in meek chorus. She gave a little speech on 
 the duties of dogs in civilized communities, and dis- 
 missed them with a pat upon the head of each, and 
 they went to their kennel to be fed by Minnie. Miss 
 Gaff took the children back into the parlor, and hav- 
 ing noticed that they could examine curiosities with- 
 
262 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 out handling or injuring them, she begun a little 
 business chat with Altie. She liked the girl's fresh, 
 lady-like appearance. Allie was now twenty, but 
 looked much younger; the school-room had given 
 her manners a certain precision, but country freedom 
 and the constant company of the rest of the Bunch 
 had kept her face undinted and unfaded. 
 
 " I have two people, " said Miss Gaff : " Minnie, 
 and Jacob, my coachman. His room is in the base- 
 ment, and he takes care of himself. Minnie does 
 the laundry-work in another part of the basement. 
 She is a good girl and, not very wasteful ; but I need 
 some one to oversee the house all the time. I don't 
 like her to touch this room except when I am by ; 
 she has no idea of the value of a collection. Do you 
 see ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Atlie timidly. 
 
 " Well, I have my dresses done out of the house, 
 always. But I never get- a morsel of time for plain 
 sewing and the house suffers for it. I'll show you my 
 rooms, "said Miss Gaff; which she did. Her own 
 chamber was a sort of gymnasium, with trapezes, In- 
 dian clubs, dumb-bells and health-lift. "I take ex- 
 ercise before I dress, in the morning, " she explained, 
 "after my bath." 
 
 There were besides her private rooms, a kitchen 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller Fry. 263 
 
 and pantries, the dining-room, a store room and Min- 
 nie's bed-chamber. All of these were abundantly 
 furnished. Allie was to sleep up-stairs with her sis- 
 ter, which pleased her, but the rest of her life was 
 to be below. 
 
 " I don't want you to imagine, " said Miss Gaff, 
 " that you must stay close here, like a prisoner. Only 
 keep a supervision of everything as if it \\ereyour 
 house instead of mine. " 
 
 Sweet Alice began to feel solid satisfaction in the 
 prospect. She received keys and a set of account 
 books, and declared herself ready to begin next day, 
 for the Bunch's domestic affairs were in a state which 
 her presence could not help ; and Loo was the trained 
 housekeeper. 
 
 Jack groped for an ottoman and pushed it up in 
 front of Miss Gaff. 
 
 " I wish our other two children were here," said 
 he, " and I wish I could see you. " His tone was 
 one of such undisguised admiration that Miss Gaff 
 laughed. 
 
 " I want to examine your eyes, my son, first thing 
 in the morning. You're going to Dr. Marlowe's ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am. " 
 
 " He's very good very good in his specialty. I'll 
 drive you round there when I start on my rounds, 
 and get his opinion." 
 
264 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " You're real good," said Jack. 
 
 " I wish Maud and Rheem could see these, " Loo 
 was remarking, uncertain whether they should ever 
 again have the entree of this museum-parlor. " Miss 
 Gaff, " she called out mildly, " didn't these beautiful 
 yellow-streaked white rocks come out of a gold mine ? " 
 
 " Yes, " snapped Miss Gaff, pulling her eyebrows 
 together so that a deep, upright wrinkle stood be- 
 tween them, " that's where father's money went. 
 Mines, mines, mines ! And after losing everything 
 else in speculating he lost himself prospecting a mine." 
 
 " How ? " begged the Bunch. 
 
 " Disappointment and fever," said Miss Gaff. 
 " Don't speak about it any more. I never talk of it." 
 She reached out and took the hand of Arty who was 
 leaning against his eldest sister, and telling Loo to 
 " never mind " when that tender hearted girl tried to 
 apologize, began to talk nervously to him in German, 
 much to his astonishment. 
 
 " Bubchen, wie befinded sie sich ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Arty, widening his eyes. 
 
 " Ach, so ? " said Miss Gaff, laughing. " Sprachen 
 sie ein lied : 
 
 "Die Rose, die Lily, die Taube, die Sonne, 
 Sie liebt Ich ernst alle in liebes wonne : 
 Ich liebt sie nichtmehr, Ich liebe " 
 
Miss Gaff and Smaller fry. 265 
 
 " I can't understand that," said Arty. 
 
 The bell rung. Miss Gaff was in request to see a 
 patient on the other side of the city. She called for 
 ^facob and the phaeton immediately, and had her hat 
 and gloves and sacque on, to a nicety, her case ready 
 and her remedies forecast, before the Bunch could 
 marshal themselves to bid her good evening. They 
 went up-stairs and she drove off. 
 
 " I'm glad the twins will sleep more comfortably 
 than we do, to-night," said Alice, when the matresses 
 were brought up from a dray, and she gazed at ban- 
 daged Jack, and felt how cool the lake winds could 
 be even on summer nights. 
 
 Rome and Remus were at that moment stretching 
 their weary limbs under a walnut tree, and looking up 
 at the dark sky. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CHILDREN OF THE WOOD. 
 
 IT was a fine spreading walnut tree, in fact a noble 
 specimen of its class, but it didn't seem to suit 
 them. 
 
 " If we weren't so tired we'd look for a holler tree," 
 said Remus. 
 
 " Yes," responded Rome, " I'd rather be in a hollow 
 one. But bears get in them, don't they ? " 
 
 Remus was cross : he was hungry : he was beaten 
 back. 
 
 " I just as lieves as not one would eat us up." 
 
 Maude demurred. " I don't want to be eat up. 1 
 rather have something to eat myself ! " 
 
 They cuddled quietly awhile. It was a warm even- 
 ing in the woods ; the murderous mosquitoes were 
 
 266 
 
Children of the Wood. 267 
 
 thick, and hunted the children till they hid clear under 
 the spread which looked like a collapsed tent. Occa- 
 sionally an industrious mosquito bored through this 
 and brought the blood and a start out of their unpro- 
 tected little bodies. 
 
 Rome's mind was busy with stories of children lost 
 in the woods, and a " large animal bounding out of 
 the bushes towards them." In the story it always 
 turned out to be the family dog seeking them, but in 
 their case she knew it would prove a bear if not a lion 
 or an elephant ! If a rabbit startled the grass her 
 heart jumped. 
 
 "What'll we do for breakfast, Rheemie?" she in- 
 quired, facing between whiles their prospect of indefi- 
 nite fasting. 
 
 Rheem snored. 
 
 She repeated her question. He snored louder. 
 From this delicate hint she gathered that the mind 
 masculine did not wish to be disturbed further, and 
 she took a turn in the spread and tried to snug down 
 in the roots of the tree. They had two deep little 
 cribs, tolerably cushioned with leaves, but the ants 
 were there before them and came out and bit the in- 
 truders. 
 
 " I can't stand this ! " cried Remus forgetting his 
 snore and bouncing out of his crib.. 
 
268 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Neither can I ! " cried Rome, bouncing up also. 
 
 " Let's climb the tree and sleep in the limbs," sug- 
 gested her brother, and she agreed rather doubtfully. 
 
 They pulled themselves up the shaggy trunk of the 
 walnut, and when they reached the first large limbs 
 Remus had an inspiration : he bade his twin stand and 
 hold by the trunk till he fixed what he meant to, and 
 she watched in wonder. He ripped the spread down 
 the centre and tied the halves in tremendous knots to 
 even limbs, making two pretty white hammocks. He 
 tested the strength of both hammocks himself and 
 showed Maude how reliable they were, She crept 
 into hers and lay down in ecstecy, slightly lessoned by 
 the hold which a persevering mosquito had upon her 
 shoulder. It was ten feet above the ground, but the 
 knots were stout ; it was near enough to her twin for 
 her to reach over and touch his head if she got fright- 
 ened, and deep enough for her to roll over without 
 tumbling out. They swung like a pair of complacent 
 bats and fought mosquitoes with renewed energy. All 
 they needed now was food and clothing and a pocket 
 map of the road to Chicago to which city by tacit 
 agreement they were making their way, to overwhelm 
 with surprise and remorse the seceded part of the 
 family. 
 
 A mother-bird up higher in the tree, stirred and 
 
Children of the Wood. 269 
 
 scolded her wakeful babies. Rome started up and 
 grasped Remus. 
 
 " It's a Bugaboo ! " 
 
 "Tisn't! It's a bird." 
 
 Rome nestled again and slapped mosquitoes. How 
 fierce was their droning war-cry, how sudden and 
 sharp their attacks, how persistent their boring. 
 
 "Let's tell stories," said Remus, swinging his ham- 
 mock and pretending to be in a state of oriental en- 
 joyment. 
 
 "I wish I could hear Arty make some," sighed 
 Rome, " he's so cunning ! Don't you remember that 
 one he used to say about ' There was an old woman 
 sat down to 'pin, and she heard somefin go boo-ah ! 
 boo-ah ! boo-ah ! and she looked up and there was a 
 great big bugaboo bear.' " 
 
 "Oh, pshaw!" snuffed Remus, glancing around 
 the darkened landscape over the side of his hammock, 
 "who wants to hear about bears ? " 
 
 " Wouldn't you be scared if you'd see one ? Bears 
 can climb trees, can't they ! " 
 
 " There aren't any in these woods ; they were all 
 killed off long ago." 
 
 " Rheemie, did you ever hear the story about the hunt- 
 er that a bear ate up ? When the country was new. 
 I guess it was in these woods. I always got scared 
 
270 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 when I thought about it. The folks found his boot 
 and his gun and his bed. Oh Rhemie, how'll he res- 
 urrect out of the bear and how'll his head resurrect 
 to the rest of him ? " 
 
 Maude was quite overcome and shut her eyes, shud- 
 dering. 
 
 " Keep still," hushed Remus, which caution made 
 his twin grab at him and cry out in a startled voice 
 " Why ? " 
 
 Her own ears told her why. A swish, swish, swish 
 of shrubs and a crackle of dry sticks on the ground 
 announced the near presence of something. She cow- 
 ered like a little lady snail in her shell. 
 
 " Hullo, you, up there ! have you hung your- 
 selves ? " 
 
 Remus now cowered too, half in dread and half in 
 shame ; it was John White's voice ; the dear old fel- 
 low who was always pulling them out of scrapes, stood 
 at the foot of the tree. 
 
 " I heard you talking, so you needn't hide ! 
 What's that you've swung up that white stuff ?" 
 
 " Our spread," piped Maude, looking down at him, 
 her heart lightened by the sight, though they had run 
 away from his house. 
 
 " Well, what are you doing here ? Have you turned 
 out to run wild in the woods ? " 
 
Children of the Wood. 271 
 
 "We're going to Chicago," said Remus, showing 
 his head. 
 
 " Yes, you look like it ! ' Rockaby baby on the tree 
 top, when the wind blows the cradle will rock." 
 Well, what's the matter with you youngsters, any- 
 how ? Went off without your dinner, or any clothes 
 kept me hunting for you all the afternoon ; you 
 ought to have told Priscilla if you wanted to have a 
 scamper in the woods ; we've been uneasy about 
 you." 
 
 " She said we were underfoot," burst from Rome's 
 troubled bosom. 
 
 " Oh ! " laughed John, and he chuckled awliile un- 
 der the tree ; " she can cook good dinners, though," 
 he added by way of apology for Priscilla. 
 
 " The rest went off and left us," said Rheem, shak- 
 ing his head with some threatening intimation of what 
 he would do yet. 
 
 " And Jacey Dixon said they didn't want us," 
 added Rome ; " and we had no clothes and no money, 
 and we were going to Chicago to show 'em we could 
 come anyhow ! " 
 
 " We wasn't goin' to tag 'em, though ! " corrected 
 Remus with spirit. 
 
 " Yes. Well, Jacey Dixon usually tells the whole 
 truth and nothing but the truth, doesn't he ? For in- 
 
272 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 stance, the time he saw Arty going to the old tannery 
 in Billy's rag-sack ? " 
 
 " I went my own self and asked Mr. Thomas, too, 
 and he said they'd all gone to Chicago." 
 
 " And did he say they had to leave you on account 
 of buying ready-made clothes to send back ? and that 
 Lawyer McKay was to take you up to-morrow ? He'll 
 be disappointed when he calls for you and finds you're 
 not there," said John. 
 
 He smiled. The hammocks both gave an uneasy 
 squirm. 
 
 " Allie got off at Carver City, and ran up street 
 while the train waited for breakfast, and bought 
 clothes to send right back to you ; she sent a note, too. 
 Mr. Joyce gave me the bundle at noon ! " John added, 
 more as a soliloquy than a remark, " Priscilla might 
 have made them some things, but she's so busy with 
 house-work I guess she didn't think about it." 
 
 Rome and Remus leaned over the sides of their 
 hammocks with sheep-faced looks which the dusk 
 could not veil. 
 
 " Hadn't you better come down," said John, " and 
 go home and have some supper ? I guess you can 
 stand our house one night more ! " 
 
 His thrust and the rankling of family troubles quite 
 pierced Maude's tender heart. She began to cry. 
 
Children of the Wood. 273 
 
 Remus crawled out of his hammock and began to 
 untie it, with sturdy grunts at every hard pull. 
 
 " I like to stay at your house first-rate, Mr. White 
 (un !) but I thought we oughtn't stay there always 
 (uh !) and we didn't know what they meant. Ben 
 said he'd send word what we were to do (uh !) this 
 is hard to untie ! " 
 
 " He did send word from Chicago : Jack's eyes 
 were so bad they started with him almost as soon as 
 they got the word. He has to be doctored." 
 
 " Jacey Dixon said he was blind as a fish-worm ! " 
 wept Maude, adding this to her general grief. 
 
 " Well, so he may be," said John, gravely, " if some- 
 thing isn't done for him early." He reached up his 
 arms to take the wandering little girl down as she 
 scrambled backwards. Remus unfastened the other 
 hammock and dropped with both of them. He and 
 Rome wrapped themselves up like Choctaws. Remus 
 hung back but Maude was glad to return to civilized 
 life. John White gave one of his forefingers to each 
 of them, and these new Children of the Wood, 
 trotted along beside him as trustfully as the less for- 
 tunate ones of the old story went with their bad 
 uncle. 
 
 He said nothing more to upbraid them, but all that 
 great mountain of remorse which they were going to 
 
274 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 pile on their family, rolled back upon themselves ! 
 
 Said Remus to Mr. White incidentally : 
 
 "I hope the rest won't hear about our thinking 
 they'd left us. It might hurt their feelings ! " 
 
 " I hope they won't," said John. 
 
 " Do you suppose Mr. McKay will tell them ? " 
 
 " Not unless somebody tells him." 
 
 " Doesn't everybody at your house know we came 
 off ? " 
 
 " I guess nobody knows the whole thing but Pris- 
 cilla and I, and Priscilla never talks much ; that's a 
 good thing," said John, slily, "quietness is." 
 
 " Yes, it is," said Remus. 
 
 "Now I'll tell you what to do. You can slip in 
 the front way ; the bundle of things is on the settee. 
 You can pick them out and put them on before you 
 come to supper. They're waitin' supper for me, and 
 the rest'll all be on the back porch, or about. And 
 we needn't say that you took off my coat and pants 
 and Priscilla's things, for fear of s'iling them before 
 3'ou started on your ramble ! " 
 
 Rome rubbed her cheek against the big forefinger 
 which led her and said, " You're the loveliest man I 
 ever saw in the world ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 JIPPETY. 
 
 The rest of the Bunch did not hear of the twins' 
 distrust and flight, therefore, until they burst into 
 Miss Gaff's top flat and told it themselves ! go 
 ing from one member of the family to another with 
 kisses and penitent squeezes. Mr. McKay brought 
 them to the street door and left them : he was too 
 busy to climb up and see his wards that day, and 
 they were glad of it when they considered the un- 
 furnished state of their rooms. He told Allie the 
 two young children came over the road for nothing, 
 when she offered their fare to him ; and assuring her 
 he would look in on the Bunch the next time he 
 came up, he hurried off. 
 
 Like bees in a bee-hive, the Bunch fell to system- 
 275 
 
I 
 
 276 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 atic work. Ben was employed in building : but 
 before he had been in the city many weeks his ambi- 
 tion took definite shape. He meant to learn archi- 
 tecture ; the architect under whom he was working 
 proved a friend to him, and though all he could then 
 earn was scant for the family emergencies, he looked 
 forward to a career of satisfaction and success. All 
 his spare time he put upon his favorite study ; he had 
 the free use of the architect's office, evenings, and 
 it never saw a more earnest thinker and planner than 
 Ben. He got himself opportunities to see the best 
 buildings in the city; he was always going about with 
 pencil and paper in his hands or just inside his vest 
 pocket. Loo did her best with the home ; her work 
 was lightened, too, by so many conveniences. By de- 
 grees the necessary furniture came in, then a rug or 
 two. Miss Gaff forced bed-clothing upon them until 
 they could buy some ; the boy's room was made cosy ; 
 then the girls added comforts to their own ; so by 
 stages they got another comfortable footing in life. 
 
 The first time Remus went to look at the city he 
 felt as if he had come into a fortune. A new indus- 
 try rose up before him. Of course he and Maude 
 were sent to one of the ward schools, but there were 
 the mornings and evenings and the morning and 
 evening papers ! He set up as a newsboy ; his pink 
 
Jippety. 277 
 
 cheeks and bright eyes and crisp business manner 
 gained him customers; there were business men 
 whom he regularly waylaid and who regularly bought 
 t his paper. Maude felt a thrill of pride when she 
 heard his voice ring out in the street : " Inter-Ocean, 
 sir ? Journal ? have a paper ? Here's your Inter- 
 Ocean," &c. The little fellow paid a regular weekly 
 sum into the family fund, and kept some nice ten- 
 cent pieces over. It was well he could help, for Allie 
 could only give them the rent now, a help they did 
 not feel, never having paid rent in their lives, and 
 Jack was in darkness. 
 
 Poor Jack was driven by Miss Gaff according to 
 her promise, to the oculist's the very next day after 
 his arrival. The doctor did not say very much, but 
 shook his head at Miss Gaff. Jack was jolly, but it 
 did not suit his temperament to sit and be waited on, 
 or to be led " like an old blind beggar " by one of the 
 Bunch to the oculist's for treatment. 
 
 " Get me a little dog and string," said Jack, " and 
 a tin cup for the pennies. ' Pity a poor blind man, 
 good people ! This helpless being with a family of 
 six children dependent upon him, was blown up in a 
 powdermill and came down without eyesight ! ' ' 
 
 After some days he was made to lie still all day 
 long in a darkened room, and dieted sparely. Then 
 
278 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 Arty played around him and probably kept him from 
 despairing. Maude came in and told him the won- 
 derful things which happened at school ; Remus pic- 
 tured the glories of journalism (/. e., the selling of 
 the journals) ; Ben talked architecture to him ; Loo 
 told him when the lake looked particularly blue in the 
 glimpse she had of it over the housetops : Allie came 
 up-stairs, put her arm under his dear, old aching 
 head and gave him his dinner with a spoon. And 
 Miss Gaff was a whole host of entertainers ; Jack re- 
 joiced when he heard her coming, snapping guitar 
 strings in her throat an inimitable habit she learned 
 when a child. She thought of a hundred ways to di- 
 vert him. 
 
 " If I turn out blind," said he, " I don't know of any- 
 thing I can do except grind an organ, with Arty for a 
 monkey. Will you go and be monkey for Jacky, 
 my man ? " 
 
 Oh, yes, Arty would be monkey. 
 
 " I can telegraph," said Jack ; " I can read dis- 
 patches by ear easy enough, and work the machine 
 with my eyes shut. I wish I had a battery here." 
 
 Miss Gaff brought up to him not a battery, but a 
 small patent machine on which he could tap messages 
 and keep in practice. This pleased him so much that 
 she meditated on putting a real battery within his 
 
yippety. 279 
 
 reach, for at that time she had her own opinions about 
 Jack's ever being able to see again. 
 
 She gathered the Bunch on the first Sunday of their 
 settlement under her wing or rather over her head, 
 and carried them to her church and Sabbath -school. 
 There might be other places of worship in the city of 
 Chicago, but Miss Gaff would have none of them. 
 By her gardening hand the Dogberry Bunch were 
 carefully planted in that church and watered with Bi- 
 ble lessons every Sunday. She was very learned in 
 Bible lore and a person of great influence in the church, 
 and they were very glad to get into such a Sabbath 
 family party, instead of venturing, shy, unstylish and 
 lonely, into the great rich churches to worship. 
 
 As soon as Alice had time to collect her thoughts 
 and sit down for a comfortable half-hour undisturbed, 
 she wrote to Joslyn at Hot Springs, telling him all that 
 had befallen her house, and the changes in their base 
 and prospects. But she added, she had great hopes 
 of Jack's eyes, and Ben was happier than ever before 
 in the chances before him, and Loo thought gas, and 
 hot and cold water in the house were so nice, and 
 Rheem, the dear little fellow, had taken, of his own 
 accord, to selling papers, and both he and Maude 
 were improving faster in those graded schools than 
 she ever imagined possible, while Arty was growing 
 
280 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 so nicely, and was full of wonder and interest in every- 
 thing. As for herself, she never knew how tired she 
 was of the school-room until she left it to be Miss 
 Gaff's housekeeper. And Miss Gaff was so nice ! It 
 was a wonder how many nice people there were in 
 the world ! She sent her dearest love to Miss Wylie, 
 and hoped she might inprove in health every day : 
 she repeated her very dearest love for that little old 
 lady of a past generation had a tender hold on Allie. 
 She closed with kind messages to his mother, and 
 gave him their present address, telling him if he came 
 to Chicago the Bunch would be heart-broken if he 
 passed them over. 
 
 Allie's business at Miss Gaff's was exactly suited to 
 her tastes. She had a pretty bijou home to control. 
 " Bony " was not a pleasant companion, but she grew 
 to have a kind feeling towards even him ; the snake 
 and the turtles and dogs grew endurable, and she 
 was allowed to lessen their territory ; they kept to 
 themselves in a sort of Arctic torpor, until Miss Gaff's 
 evening return, like the return of the sun, thawed them 
 out to frisky demonstration. Miss Gaff had a library 
 of finely selected books, and quite a little gallery of 
 costly and exquisite pictures. She kept this as sacred 
 as Bluebeard's room until her confidence in and affec- 
 tion for Allie opened all the doors to that young house- 
 keeper. 
 
Jippety. 281 
 
 Allie superintended the table, and took care of the 
 clothes when they came from the laundry, and kept 
 the rooms pretty, as only a tasteful, refined girl can 
 do, and after some instruction and experience, did the 
 marketing, with a very great relish for it. She de- 
 lighted to go out very early and tread her way among 
 all the odd assemblage on market mornings, to con- 
 sider Miss Gaff's taste in this or that, and to plan the 
 bill of fare so as to secure the greatest variety at the 
 least cost. It pleased her greatly to see Miss Gaff 
 lift her eyebrows over some unexpected luxury at 
 table, and to hear her exclaim, " Bless us, my 
 child! what a treasure!" Miss Gaff sat at the 
 head of the table, and Allie sat opposite, the lady 
 doctor declaring they made quite a comfortable fami- 
 ly. She received a certain sum every week for cur- 
 rent expenses, and kept accounts strictly. On Satur- 
 day evening she made a full report to Miss Gaff and 
 closed the account for the week. It was very satisfac- 
 tory to Allie. 
 
 As the greater part of her salary went to cancel the 
 rent, to be sure she had little for her personal expenses. 
 I have yet to see the young lady who will admit that one 
 hundred dollars a year twenty-five dollars a quar- 
 ter is adequate pin-money ! Allie applied her first 
 twenty-five dollars principally to family purposes. But 
 
282 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 then Allie was one of those girls who have a talent 
 for looking pretty with very small outlay. 
 
 Summer went by and the Industrial Exposition 
 opened with the Autumn. Mr. McKay wrote Ben 
 that the Dalrymple trustee had put up an elevator on 
 their old garden spot, and New Town was now a grain 
 market for the surrounding farm lands. He said he 
 had examined into the titles very carefully, and there 
 was no doubt the Dogberry title was defective, and 
 nothing but a quit-claim from the original owners 
 would ever straighten matters, and from possession 
 being already taken it did not seem probable the Dal- 
 rymple estate would be inclined to compromise mat- 
 ters. He was very sorry ; though on the other hand, 
 he was glad the children were doing so well. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 JIPPETY. (Continued?) 
 
 ONE day Alice received a letter from Joslyn con- 
 taining the news of Mrs. Wylie's death. She 
 had reached home before she died, but only lingered a 
 few days after they brought her back to Danport. 
 She went to sleep holding Joslyn's hand between her 
 two soft shrivelled palms, and did not wake again. 
 
 Allie was arranging her dinner-table when the post- 
 man rung with this letter. Miss Gaff took luncheon 
 at eleven past, and dined between four and five, unless 
 she had guests to delay dinner. So it happened that 
 the doctor found her housekeeper shedding some 
 tears over this letter as she came in fresh from a 
 
 283 
 
284 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 brisk drive. She put her kind arm around Allie's 
 broad shoulders. She spoke cheerily, with one of her 
 bright smiles. 
 
 "Why, what's the matter, my dear! And I bring- 
 ing you such good news ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Wylie is dead. She was a lovely old lady, 
 and so kind to me. She was very old." 
 
 " She developed fully, she lived her life as a woman, 
 and passed into ripe old age, did she ? Well, 
 don't cry, my child. We mourn for those who die 
 violent deaths or whose disregard of the laws of life 
 cuts them off. Idiots ! " cried Miss Gaff, mounting 
 one of her hobbies and beginning to gallop. " When I 
 see every day what fools people are, and how they 
 misuse themselves and entail misery on their children 
 and then lay the blame on Providence, it makes me 
 so mad I can hardly stand it ! Where did this Mrs. 
 Wylie live ? " she added mildly, climbing down from 
 her hobby. 
 
 u In Danport. Cousin Joslyn says he and his 
 mother have devoted nearly their whole time and 
 thoughts to her this summer." 
 
 " She is gone like a ripe sheaf of wheat. When 
 you and I die I hope we shall be full of deeds if not 
 of days. You may ring in dinner now." 
 
Jippety. 285 
 
 "Oh, my good news," added Miss Gaff as they sat 
 down. " I have the latest news about Jack." 
 
 " The doctor thinks his eyes will get well ! " cried 
 Allie. 
 
 " Yes, but he's not to know too soon, or he'll tear 
 the bandages off and be wanting to rush out at his pre- 
 cious railroad work. I'm glad to see you brighten up." 
 
 This news Allie found time to communicate to Loo 
 immediately after dinner and Loo and she squeezed 
 each other ecstatically but very quietly, for Jack's ear 
 was by this time nicely educated. Then Loo whis- 
 pered it to Ben when he came home, and she and 
 Ben shook hands upon it for several seconds. Arty 
 and the twins were not there. It being Saturday af- 
 ternoon they were at the people's cheap show, the 
 Exposition. 
 
 It was the second week of the Exposition, and Re- 
 mus, to whom it had an inexpressible charm, had 
 " done " it once or twice before. The first time he 
 took Loo, grandly paying her way out of his newsboy 
 money j and now he felt quite competent to conduct 
 his twin and the baby through the crowds. He set his 
 red lips firmly and told Arty not to be afraid, that 
 great noise was only machinery set in motion. Noth- 
 ing was more fascinating to Arty, though he felt safer 
 if he held by Rheem's pocket. Some grown-up peo 
 
286 The Dogberry Bunch, 
 
 pie jostled them, and one mountainous Dutch woman 
 almost swept them down like sail boats, as she, a full 
 rigged Great Eastern, rushed past. 
 
 "Here, take my arm," said Remus to his mate, 
 " and Arty, you better let me lead you. We can keep 
 together nicer." So with Rome on his arm and the 
 baby by the hand, like some complacent pater-f ami- 
 lias he proceeded to show them the Exhibition. They 
 passed rows of buzzing saws and belted wheels, whole 
 acres, it appeared to Maude, of roaring machinery, a 
 balmy hot-house air lulling their senses, and- the im- 
 mense sky-lighted roof seeming to wander and roll 
 out new panoramas above them. The country chil- 
 dren had never seen anything so delightful. They 
 came to a grotto and a fountain, and Rome could 
 hardly believe her eyes ; there were flowers on every 
 hand, and beautiful merchandise displayed in the 
 most enchanting manner. There was a bed-chamber 
 elegantly furnished, with even a grate and mantel in 
 it, and hung in satin, lace pillow-cases, lace counter- 
 pane prettier than the friend's room which was just 
 finished when their house burned down. 
 
 " But I tell you now," cried Rheem, drawing his 
 charges away from the displays of wax dolls and toy 
 carriages and every other desirable plaything, "be- 
 fore we look at these things or go up into the gallery 
 
Jippety. 287 
 
 I want you to see the pictures ! My goodness, Rome 
 you never saw such a lot, and they're nicer than moth- 
 er's drawings were, too." 
 
 " O Rheem," cried Rome incredulously. But when 
 they promenaded the picture rooms she was con- 
 strained to own it. 
 
 A different sort of people appeared to frequent the 
 picture room, quite different from the rushers and 
 jostlers and searchers they met in the great hall. 
 There were a great many people sitting here with 
 catalogues in their hands and glasses to their eyes, 
 silently enjoying or criticising paintings. 
 
 The children wandered through room after room, 
 Remus reserving his grand sight till the last. 
 
 " Now, come on," said he, " I'll see what the man '11 
 let us in for," and he turned down a quiet passage, 
 lined with printed admonitions to ''go and see the 
 chariot race." 
 
 " How much will you let us in for, Mister ? " said 
 he. 
 
 *' Three ? three little fellows ? The admission is 
 twenty-five cents a person." 
 
 " But we're such little fellows." 
 
 f '" Oh, Rheemie," cried his twin in a shrill whisper, 
 " where you going ! and spending money to see a 
 race ! Arty might get run over and killed." 
 
288 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 "I guess you may all go in for thirty cents," said 
 the man. So Remus paid down three dimes with 
 manly precision, and they rounded a canvas screen 
 and entered a gas-lighted room, where perhaps twenty 
 people were at that time sitting on rows of chairs 01 
 standing in groups, contemplating Wagner's grand 
 Chariot Race. Rome caught her breath : child as she 
 was the intense life of the picture thrilled her through 
 and through. A row of gas-jets brought it into start- 
 ling relief. The three little Berries stood looking up 
 at it with pure joy. How quaint they were them- 
 selves in their unstylish clothes and clear country 
 coloring ! 
 
 " We'll get a seat," whispered Remus reverently, 
 drawing his family as he tip-toed forward. 
 
 A very beautiful girl, letting her opera-glass sink 
 in her bare tinted hand, watched the group; her lips 
 curved at the corners, her teeth just glanced between 
 them. She called the attention of a middle-aged 
 lady at her side, but the middle-aged lady was intent 
 on the Chariot Race. 
 
 " Look, aunt Bryan ; do see this little boy ! " 
 
 "The chiar-oscuro, my dear," murmured aunt Bryan, 
 drawing her head back and turning it one side while 
 pursing up her eyes. 
 
 Remus noticed the young lady in one of his inter- 
 
Jippcty. 289 
 
 vals of taking breath between his long pulls at the 
 picture. She was the whitest blonde imaginable ; 
 her hair the glinting kind which seems to sparkle as 
 the head is turned ; her lips and cheeks blooming ; 
 her dress was elegant, with a dash of girlish coquetry 
 in it. She was beyond doubt a child of the wealth- 
 iest class. She was a surprise to him, like the Chariot 
 Race itself. Allie was pretty, but this young lady 
 was wonderful. He looked at her with shy delight. 
 She smiled and offered him her opera-glass. He 
 took it and thanked her, and then his ingenuous little 
 face grew red. 
 
 " How do you fix it ? " said he. 
 
 She showed him how to fix it. He thanked her 
 again and held it carefully before Rome's nose. And 
 after Rome had performed the delightful feat of 
 staring through an opera-glass he gave Arty's big 
 optics a chance. Last of all he took a quick glimmer 
 himself, saw the black-browed charioteer and his 
 galloping horses start out even more distinctly on the 
 canvas, and the driver on the inside track grinning 
 through closed teeih, the excited Roman populace 
 and the soul-stirring confusion ; then he gave back 
 the glass with a little bob of his head and another 
 "thank you." 
 
 "Little pater familias" said the young lady in the 
 
290 
 
 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 lowest but clearest of voices, laughing charmingly at 
 him ; " are these your brother and sister ? " 
 "Yes, ma'am." 
 
 JIPPETY. 
 
 " Did you notice, aunt Bryan, he brought the little 
 ;irl in on his arm ? " 
 
 " He paid our way, too," added Maude, proudly. 
 " He did ! he's a nice brother, isn't he ? " 
 " He's the nicest of everybody." 
 
Jippety. 291 
 
 They all turned to the picture again, but the young 
 lady kept her side regards on him, still smiling, though 
 half sad. She had one of those faces on which every 
 emotion was pictured; and when Rheem looked at 
 her again, which he could not help doing, for she was 
 fascinating, she said to her companion : 
 
 " Now see, aunt Bryan, can't you see some resem- 
 blance to Marty ? " 
 
 "Ah!" said aunt Bryan, turning, and rustling all 
 over she was portly and her dress very stiff " the 
 little boy? yes, a bright eye healthy little boy." 
 
 Aunt Bryan took her glass and rustled to another 
 picture at the side of the room ; not to examine it, 
 but to chat in an undertone with an acquaintance. 
 
 The young lady put her glove on Rheem's little fist. 
 " Do you know who I am ? " she said in a childish 
 way she was just out of boarding-school and her 
 young-lady airs set lightly on her yet "I am Miss 
 Jippety Dalrymple, and I once had a little brother like 
 you." 
 
 Remus did not know what else to say, so he bobbed 
 his head again and said to her, all so bashfully: 
 
 " How do you do ? " 
 
 " ' How do you do ! ' hear the little fellow ; you 
 dear pretty boy ! How old are you ? " 
 
 " Nine," and he added modestly, lecling that his 
 
292 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 card was called for, "my name's Rheem Dogberry." 
 
 " Marty would have been nine." 
 
 " What's become of him, ma'am ? " 
 
 " Dead." Miss Jippety swallowed with a little 
 ' gasp, and the tears rushed to her eyes. " A little 
 fellow in pants and kilts ; always called me Jippety 
 my name's Jasper he's gone I never can have my 
 brother again oh! the little darling ! the little dar- 
 ling!" Her fair face filled with blood; she bit her 
 lip hard. 
 
 Rome and Remus looked piteously at each other. 
 
 "I never can get over it," said Miss Jippety, 
 regaining self-control. " I rather have him with me 
 than to have everything else I want. If I had a little 
 brother like you I should be the happiest girl in the 
 world." 
 
 Rome linked her arm in Remus's, as if to prevent 
 Miss Jippety from kidnapping him. 
 
 He considered; he did not know what to say to 
 comfort her. A bright idea struck him : 
 
 "Our house burnt down. I'd hated it awfully if 
 any of the children had been burnt up. As it was, 
 Jack's eyes were burnt." 
 
 Miss Jippety wiped her eyes and tried to smile 
 again. " Ah ! Is Jack your brother ? I'm sorry he is 
 hurt." 
 
Jippety 293 
 
 "Yes, ma'am. I have three brothers and three 
 sisters." 
 
 " Seven ! What a gay family you must be ! " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am ; we always had pretty good times." 
 
 " And do you play papa to all of them ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ; they're nearly all older than I am. Ben 
 plays the papa." 
 
 " Why, haven't you father and mother ? " 
 
 "No, 'm." 
 
 " Neither have I." 
 
 "We got along very well, though," continued Remus, 
 who now felt very confidential towards Miss Jippety, 
 " till our lots were taken away from us and our house 
 caught fire and burned down just when we'd put an 
 addition to it, and -raised the kitchen and all ! " 
 
 " Why, who took your lots ? where were they ? " 
 
 " In New Town. And I think it was a minor heir, 
 Mr. McKay said, that took them and put up an 
 elevator on one of them." 
 
 " What minor heir ?" asked Jippety, opening her eyes. 
 
 " It was a minor heir that had the best title," put 
 in Rome, " our father paid money for the land, but 
 the other folks had the best title ; and we can't ever, 
 ever get it back unless the other folks give us a 
 what is that we put in our letter to Joslyn, Rheemie ? " 
 
 " A quit-claim." 
 
294 T? ie Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Yes, a quit-claim." 
 
 The murmur of their voices disturbed several people 
 in the room, who turned their heads to look at the 
 group of children and the young lady. She sat in 
 silence with her brows puckered, and seemed to be 
 thinking. 
 
 "They built an elevator on your lots, did they? " 
 she whispered again presently. " What is the name 
 of the minor heir who took them from you ? " 
 
 " I don't know," whispered back Remus ; " I heard 
 but I forget." 
 
 "And where are the lots? In New Town ? this 
 State ? " 
 
 "Yes, ma'am." 
 
 " And your name is it seems as if it must be 
 Marty, your face is so like his." 
 
 "My name's Rheem Dogberry, and my sister's 
 name's Maude, and my little brother's is Arthur. 
 We lost him once. He ran off and got hurt." 
 
 " I didn't like it at all," said Arthur solemnly. 
 
 " And what did you do after you lost your house ? " 
 pursued Miss Jippety, returning to the subject of the 
 lots ; " did you have plenty of property besides ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, ma'am ; we hadn't anything, except four 
 hundred dollars that belonged to Rome and me, and 
 Jack's hundred. But the rest wouldn't use that. So 
 
Jippety. 295 
 
 we came up here to Chicago and got rooms and went 
 to work." 
 
 "Bless it! how mannish it is," said Jippety, pat- 
 ting his smooth temple. " Are you going to stay here 
 awhile longer ? " 
 
 " Till Rome and Arty get tired of looking at the 
 Chariot Race, /never get tired of it." 
 
 He fell to enjoying it once more, as Miss Jippety, 
 keeping her eye still on the children, crossed the 
 room and murmured with her aunt. 
 
 "Jasper, my dear," said aunt Bryan, speaking 
 nearly aloud, " what freak have you taken ? " 
 
 " His face is like Marty's, aunt. And it must be 
 the very same elevator uncle was telling us about. 
 And they had nothing except those lots." 
 
 " But your uncle is a man of business, and he knows 
 what is right." 
 
 " Their father paid for them, and it seems so cruel 
 they should be obliged to give up their own for a 
 mere flaw in papers." 
 
 "Now, Jasper, my dear, you don't know anything 
 at all about it. Consult with your uncle when you go 
 home, and don't let your impulses run away with you." 
 
 " I shall be eighteen in a month, aunt, and then 
 I'm going to give those children a quit-claim for their 
 
296 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 lots. / dont want their lots. What do I care for a 
 trumpery grain-elevator ! " 
 
 " I presume your uncle will care if he has invested 
 money for you in it. But there ! do, child, control 
 your impulses." 
 
 " I will, aunt ; I'll tell them I'll clear their title, so 
 my word will be pledged, and I sha'n't have any 
 impulse to forget it." 
 
 She went to Remus and put her hands on his 
 shoulders : " My name is Jippety Dalrymple. I 
 didn't know about your land before, but I presume 2 
 am the minor heir, for whom it has been claimed. I 
 shall be eighteen in a month, however, and then I'll 
 give you that quit-claim or whatever it is so your 
 family will get their own again. Won't you kiss me 
 for my little brother Marty's sake ? " 
 
 Remus flushed to his scalp, but he put his arms 
 and lips up and kissed her heartily. 
 
 " Ah, what a nice little brother you are ! " 
 
 " But how much must we pay ? " cried he, eagerly. 
 
 " Nothing nothing it shall all be fixed up com- 
 fortably." 
 
 " But we want to do the fair thing ! " urged Reemie, 
 in a tremble of delight. "I never had any notion 
 you was a minor heir." 
 
 Miss Jippety laughed her pretty laugh again. She 
 
Jeppety 297 
 
 shook hands with Maude and also with Arty; but 
 she was a partial little lady, and gave Remus nearly 
 her entire regards. 
 
 "Well you shall do the fair thing you always 
 would do the the fair thing, Marty " and with one 
 last little pat she rustled off beside her aunt. 
 
 " O Rome ! " said Remus. 
 
 " O Rheem ! " said Rome. 
 
 Then they both said, "O Arty!" and Arty said, 
 " O, what ! " 
 
 " Why, that lady's going to give us our lots back ! 
 My gracious, won't the rest of 'em be glad ! " 
 
 Miss Jippety came back, more beautiful still for 
 being in a hurry, and therefore more vivid in eyes 
 and lips, and said, bending over the back of the seat : 
 
 " Will you give me your street and number ? " 
 
 " Yes 'm ; " exclaimed Remus, eagerly, " come and 
 see us, do ! " She smiled at his hearty country ways 
 as she made a memorandum of his address. 
 
CHAPTER XXT. 
 
 LIGHT AT LAST. 
 
 " "^ TES ? " said Miss Gaff when Rome and Rheem 
 JL and Arty rushed in upon her and Alice 
 with this news. " But don't count on it too much." 
 
 "She said she could do it, Miss Gaff! We never 
 knew it was the minor heir ! " 
 
 " Those children are always tumbling into good 
 fortune," said Allie. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Miss Gaff. " She gushed. It's 
 easy enough to gush, but people change their minds, 
 and there are her aunt and uncle who will probably 
 influence her against giving up what she might keep. 
 It's a selfish world ! " 
 
 " You aren't selfish, Miss Gaff." 
 
 " Me ? yes, I am selfish as I can be." 
 
 " But you're lovely to us." 
 
 "That's because I like you. If I didn't like 
 298 
 
Light at Last 299 
 
 you I'd shovel you out of the house in no time ! " 
 
 " I like selfish people," said Rheem. 
 
 It was several weeks afterwards that Loo in her 
 kitchen was compounding a lovely soup for dinner. 
 Ben could not come home in the middle of the day, 
 so their meals up-stairs had gradually settled into 
 breakfast, lunch at noon, ;;nd dinner at six o'clock. 
 By that time all the Bunch clustered in. Jack was 
 there the greater part of the day to be sure : but 
 even Jack took his outings with his head tied up. 
 Loo walked him down-stairs, and up and down various 
 streets. Jack and Loo were more united than form- 
 erly. Of course Arty always walked at his right 
 hand and Qhatted about everything. But Jack's tall 
 sister was very companionable, very sweet. Her arm 
 through his was gentle ; her voice had pretty 
 cadences in it. Jack felt how womanly she was and 
 remarked : 
 
 " Loo, I bet you're getting better looking than 
 Sweet Alice." 
 
 Loo laughed : a ripple laugh like the undulations 
 of her figure. 
 
 "I don't see," said Jack, "how you can do so 
 much work and take such care of the whole tribe and 
 have time to get pretty. I thought the pretty girls 
 
300 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 were the ones that kept fussing with themselves all 
 the time." 
 
 " It's well you're bandaged Jack, or you wouldn't 
 admire me so much." 
 
 " I wish I could take these bands off and try to 
 see believe I could 'use my eyes a little ! " 
 
 " Don't do it for the world ! " exhorted Lucy, and 
 from that time she watched him very narrowly. If 
 his impatient hands even went to his head, Loo 
 thought of some funny thing to tell him which in- 
 stantly diverted his mind from sight to hearing. 
 
 It was now November weather, sharp and clean 
 Loo could see the lake tossing and masts rocking, 
 as she made up her soup. Jack and Arty had fol- 
 lowed her into the kitchen, Jack on a camp-chair 
 which Ben made for him, and Arty so close he might 
 almost be said to be upon Jack's elbow. Jack telt 
 the knife with which she chipped the vegetables, the 
 smooth top of the table, the long, sleeved, pocketed, 
 tied-back calico apron in which Loo worked, and 
 which she hung in the kitchen closet when she came 
 to the head of the table in her neat alpaca. 
 
 " Lucy, do you ever get tired ? " 
 
 " Of course I do, Jack-straws." 
 
 " What puzzles one is how you can keep everything 
 going so, and plan and manage as Ben says you can, 
 
Light at Last. 301 
 
 and not wear out ! Do you love to keep house ? " 
 
 " I think I do," said Loo j " I love to see every- 
 thing in order and everybody comfortable. A spoilt 
 dish or an ugly room just hurts me. Why, 1 believe 
 I could keep twice as many rooms as ours, but one 
 has to think ahead. I know what we're going to 
 have for dinner next Friday, and I have my break- 
 fasts planned for all next week." 
 
 " I tell you what," cried Jack, " if you get your 
 deserts you'll marry a nabob with a big house and 
 everything nice in it, and then you'll entertain peo- 
 ple royally, and I'll have a standing invitation ; but 
 won't you hate to have a poor old blind man sitting 
 in the corner, with a shingle pinned in front of him 
 saying, * Please pity the afflicted ? ' " 
 
 " Not at all," laughed Loo ; " for if I marry such 
 an old fellow it's likely he will have the rheumatism 
 or be a chronic invalid, and I can nurse you both 
 together!" 
 
 The door opened from the vestibule and some- 
 body came in saying : 
 
 "Who's this I hear talking about being an old 
 olind man ? " 
 
 Jack jumped up. " That's cousin Joslyn ; I know 
 his voice ! " 
 
 Joslyn took his hands, and then dropped them and 
 
302 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 shook him by the shoulders and then patted him on 
 the head, then he kissed one of the long slim hands 
 Loo had just wiped nice and clean to give him, and 
 tossed Arty up, exclaiming, " Hullo, Metempsycho- 
 sis ! " 
 
 Before Allie, who piloted him up, shut the door, 
 Ben came bounding up-stairs, and the twins' voices 
 were heard resounding on a lower flight. 
 
 Thus Joslyn was surrounded by the Bunch ; and 
 Miss Gaff followed to ask them all down to dine with 
 her. Joslyn pleased her. But as Loo had dinner 
 prepared and was ready to spread her table, she de- 
 murred, so Miss Gaff was kept to dine with the 
 Bunch. They all got around Joslyn and looked at 
 him with the hearty affection he appreciated so much. 
 He was handsomer, a very little thinner, but rich 
 colored, magnetic, cordial as ever. They inquired 
 about his mother, and about Mrs. Wylie's last illness. 
 He told them how she had been taken from one 
 place to another, and how she died quietly with his 
 hand in hers. He mentioned in connection with her 
 death, how fond she was of Allie, and that she had 
 mentioned Allie in her will, leaving her a little legacy 
 of a couple of thousand dollars. 
 
 The children turned and stared at each other. A 
 couple of thousand dollars ! It seemed very little to 
 
Light at Last. 303 
 
 Joslyn, but to them it seemed immense. Ben shook 
 hands with her, and the rest of the Bunch solemnly 
 followed his example. 
 
 " You are the quaintest lot ! " said Joslyn laughing. 
 " Now how much are you going to put into the Asso- 
 ciation fund, Allie ? " 
 
 " I ought to put in a great deal," said she sin- 
 cerely ; " for we have had no surplus to start a fund 
 since we were burnt out." 
 
 " Come into the parlor, do," begged Lucy, " you're 
 crowding my range so I can't lift my kettle lids, and 
 you'll be steamed full of dinner before I can serve it 
 up." 
 
 "Yes, come," cried Joslyn, "for I have something 
 to show Jack there." He put his arm across Jack's 
 shoulder and drew him along. Allie went ahead and 
 let down the shades and made the room as dark as 
 possible. 
 
 " I guess you forget, cousin, that I'm the organ- 
 man where's my monkey? yes, here's Arty 
 here's my monkey good people have pity on the 
 blind ! " 
 
 " And here's your organ," laughed Joslyn, drop- 
 ping on one knee and giving Jack one arm to turn. 
 With the most comical effect in the world, he made 
 a creaking in his throat and began to rhyme and sing 
 
304 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 in a melancholy key. The whole spontaneous per- 
 formance was so like Joslyn that the Bunch ap- 
 plauded with ecstacy : 
 
 " Ki-wee, ki-wow, I've tramped to-day 
 Till my old back with dust is gray, 
 My crank goes round, my one leg quakes: 
 Oh how an old hand-organ aches 1 
 
 " Ki-wee, ki-wow ; ki-wow, ki-wee ! 
 Have you a cent you'll give to me? 
 Click I caught my breath sweet Spirit hear 
 My prayer, for I'm tormented here 1 
 
 " Ki-wee, ki-wow, I wander round, 
 The saddest thing above the ground. 
 No monkey trick amuses me. 
 If you'll not pay I'll quit Ki-wee-e ! " 
 
 " Jack, my good fellow," said Joslyn leaping up 
 and forcing Jack into a chair, " your interesting fam- 
 ily are now around you ; you have been in dark- 
 ness some months. The doctor decided at last to 
 let you have your bandages off providing you re- 
 turn to broad daylight slowly and as Allie said 
 they were to loose you from bondage this evening, I 
 begged the privilege of being the party to do it. 
 Here you are, sir. Can you look up and see your 
 interesting kinsman ? " 
 
A MOST MOMENTOUS MOMENT. 
 
Light at Last. 307 
 
 Jack blinked even in the dark, and caught his 
 breath as the last wrapping fell. 
 
 " Well, I'm glad ! " said he. " I can see you. I've 
 had some blinks of daylight when the doctor was 
 dressing my eyes, but it hurt me so I could hardly 
 tell whether I saw or not. How'de do Ben ? I 
 have'nt seen you since the fire! How'de do, Loo 
 the giantess is going to be the prettiest of the 
 lot, Allie ! " 
 
 Jack shook hands on all sides and the girls heartily 
 kissed him. Then he went about the rooms peeping 
 close at things, and followed by two or three of his 
 family who admonished him not to strain his eyes, not 
 attempt any print, and to shield his orbs carefully 
 when he ventured near a window. Arty, who trotted 
 close by as usual, patronized Jack thus : 
 
 " Jacky, what's this ? " laying his hand on a broom. 
 
 " Oh, a hand-saw," said Jack, good-naturedly. 
 
 " No, it isn't ! it's a broom. Now what's this ? " 
 
 " The letter O," said Jack. 
 
 "No, it isn't! it's the table." 
 
 " This is a pretty good looking place," said Jack, 
 pronouncing on the whole flat. " Oh ! we're going 
 to do glorious things now that there isn't a disabled 
 one among us ! " 
 
 " Jack is getting up steam," said Joslyn. 
 
308 The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " I've been hissing with it for three months," 
 said Jack, taking in a very long and loud breath. 
 
 '* Tremendous things will grow out of this house 
 in the air I suppose," said Joslyn. 
 
 Loo was laying the table in the dining-room, and 
 Alice and Miss Gaff, with evident enjoyment, were 
 helping her. 
 
 Jack had come back from his tour of inspection, 
 and camped on the floor near Joslyn's feet. 
 
 " Well, we'll amount to something I think. Ben's 
 going to be an architect. Allie's got such luck in 
 that money she can buy herself a piano and learn 
 music as much as she wants to. Loo's bound to 
 make the most tremendous old housekeeper that 
 ever lived, and I think Rheem will go for printing 
 or something about newspapers, and Rome and Arty 
 will be celebrated for their good looks if for nothing 
 else! Pm in for railroading, of course." 
 
 " I shouldn' wonder," said Joslyn mischievously, 
 " if I'd tease Allie into coming and living with my 
 mother and me, some day." 
 
 " I think that'cl be just as mean as mean could 
 be ! " cried Rome with tears in her eyes. 
 
 " We couldn't break up the Bunch that way," rea- 
 soned Remus, seriously. " Oh, by the way," said 
 
Light at Last. 309 
 
 Miss Gaff, coming to the parlor soon, " the postman 
 has left a letter for you, Ben. Did you get it ? " 
 
 " I have it in my pocket," cried Allie. " I for- 
 got it." 
 
 The letter was from Mr. McKay; and when Ben 
 had read it, he said, " Well ! " with a light break- 
 ing all over his face. " Well, well ! " 
 
 " She's done it, has she ? " said Miss Gaff. 
 " Well, that's better than I expected." 
 
 Mr. McKay wrote that the Dalrymple heir, imme- 
 diately on coming of age had cleared the Dogberry 
 title, and not only were the lots their own now, but 
 the building upon it was theirs. 
 
 This well-to-do family broke into joyful exclama 
 tions. One declared their troubles were blessings in 
 masquerade ; another shouted that it was splendid ; 
 Jack bawled " Le's all go to Europe ! " Rheem 
 cried that she was the prettiest and nicest young lady 
 in Chicage or America! if you only could see her 
 eyes ! and her hair ! 
 
 " She said Rheem looked just like her little brother 
 Marty," said Rome. 
 
 "Let's build a summer residence on the old 
 place ! " cried Jack. 
 
 " No, no, let's stay here," said Ben, " where we 
 can make our way in the world." 
 
3 1 o The Dogberry Bunch. 
 
 " Better divide into two parties," quizzed Joslyn, 
 " and so cover both fields at once." 
 
 The idea of their ever being separated seemed 
 ludicrous ; they all laughed at it, except Rome, who 
 thought of Seth Thomas, and Priscilla White's close 
 bedroom, and felt lonesome achings come up in her 
 throat. 
 
 I cannot say that they all fell upon each other's 
 necks, but they fell to their dinner, and Joslyn and 
 Miss Gaff exchanged amused looks as their earnest 
 talk went round. 
 
 Just there I shall leave them, their paths in life 
 indicated, their hearts all beating as one heart, their 
 hands clustering together; a cosy, warm, ripening 
 Bunch ; a Bunch of the truest lovers in the world. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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ABOUT GIANTS. By Isabel Smithson. Boston t 
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 many curious and interesting facts relating to 
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 AMERICAN AUTHORS. By Amanda B. Harris. 
 Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price $1.00. This 
 is one of the books we can heartily commend to 
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 the information it contains. All lovers of books 
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 the boys and girls into whose hands this little 
 book may fah will find it rieasant reading. 
 
THE ART OF LIVING. From the Writings of 
 Samuel Smihs. With Introduction by the ven- 
 erable Dr. leaboily of Harvard University, and 
 Biographical Sket'ch by the editor, Carrie Adelaide 
 Cooke. x Bos ' -n : D. Lothrop Company. Price 
 61.00. 
 
 Samuel Sn lies is the Benjamin Franklin of Eng- 
 lana. His sayings have a similar terseness, apt- 
 ness and f ore i; ; they are directed to practical ends, 
 like Franklin s; they have the advantage of being 
 nearer our til le and therefore more directly related 
 to subjects ipon which practical wisdom is of 
 practical ust 
 
 Success in life is his subject all through, The Art 
 of Living ; a. d he confesses on the very first page 
 that " happiL )ss consists in the enjoyment of little 
 pleasures sea -.tercel along the common path of life, 
 which iii the sager search for some great and ex- 
 citing joy we are apt to overlook. It finds delisrht 
 in the performance of common duties faithfully 
 and houorabl / fulfilled." 
 
 Let the reac er go back to that quotation again and 
 consider how contrary it is to the spirit that under- 
 lies the bush* >sses that are nowadays tempting men 
 to sudden for tune, torturing with disappointments 
 nearly all wh > yield, and burdening the successful 
 beyond their endurance, shortening lives and mak- 
 ing them wea ry and most of them empty. 
 
 Is it worth while to join the mad rush for the 
 lottery ; or t-_ take the old road to slow success ? 
 
 Tliis book of the chosen thoughts of a rare phil- 
 osopher lead* to contentment as well as wisdom; 
 for, when we choose the less brilliant course be- 
 ,-ause we are urn; it is the best one, we have the 
 most complete and lasting repose from anxiety. 
 
MONTEAGLE. By Tansy. Boston : P. Lothrop 
 Company. Price 75 cents. Both girls and boys 
 will lind this story of Pansy's pleasant and profit- 
 able reading. Dilly West is a character whom the 
 first will find it an excellent thing to ' itimate, and 
 boys will find in Hart Hammond a noble, manly, 
 fellow who walks for a time dangerously near 
 temptation, but escapes through providential in- 
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 devotion to duty of the young girl, who becomes 
 an unconscious power of good. 
 
 A DOZEN OF THEM. By Pansy. Boston : D. 
 "Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents. A Sunday- 
 school story, written in Pansy's best vein, and 
 having for its hero a twelve-year-old boy who has 
 been thrown upon the world by the death of his 
 parents, and who has no one left to look after 
 him but a sister a little older, whose time is fully 
 occupied in the milliner's shop where slit is em- 
 ployed. Joe, for that is the boy's name, finds a 
 place to work at a farmhouse where there is a small 
 private school. His sister makes him promise to 
 Jearn by heart a verse of Scripture every month. 
 It is a task at first, but he is a boy of his word, 
 and he fulfills his promise, with what results the 
 reader of the story will find out. It is an excellent 
 book for the Sunday-school. 
 
 AT HOME AND ABROAD. Stories from The Pansy 
 Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price, .$1.00. A 
 score of short stories which originally appeared 
 in the delightful magazine, The Pansy, have been 
 here brought together in collected form with the 
 illustrations which originally accompanied them. 
 They are from the pens of various authors, and 
 are bright, instructive ami entertaining 
 
TILTING AT WINDMILLS ' A Story of the Blue 
 Grass Country. By Emma M. Connelly. Boston : 
 D. Lothrop Company. 12mo, $1.50. 
 
 NOT since the days of " A Fool's Errand" has so 
 strong and so characteristic a " border novel" been 
 brought to the attention of the public as is now 
 presented by Miss Connelly in this book which she 
 so aptly terms " Tilting at Windmills." Indeed, it 
 is questionable whether Judge Tourgee's famous 
 book touched so deftly and yet so practically the 
 real phases of the reconstruction period and the 
 interminable antagonisms of race and section. 
 
 The self-suflicient Boston man, a capital fellow 
 at heart, but tinged with the traditions and envi- 
 ronments of his Puritan ancestry and conditions, 
 coming into his strange heritage in Kentucky at 
 the close of the civil war, seeks to change by in- 
 stant manipulation all the equally strong and deep- 
 rooted traditions and environments of Blue Grass 
 societj 7 . 
 
 His ruthless conscience will allow of no com- 
 promise, and the people whom he seeks to prose- 
 lyte alike misunderstand his motives and spurn his 
 proffered assistance. 
 
 Presumed errors are materialized and partial 
 evils are magnified. Allerton tilts at windmills 
 and with the customary Quixotic results. He is, 
 seemingly, unhorsed in every encounter. 
 
 Miss Connelly's work in this, her first novel, will 
 make readers anxious to hear from her again and 
 it will certainly create, both in her own and other 
 States, a strong desire to see her next forthcoming 
 work announced by the same publishers in one of 
 their new series her ' Story of the State of Ken- 
 tucky."