intense it was necessary to open the door to give it suitable vent, and
out into the open air went these newly-dubbed knights.

"There go Bertha Barry's boys, I know," growled Timothy Scriggins, who
chanced to meet this band of knights issuing from the yard of their queen.
"I never saw sich a teacher."

Well, the boys loved her. There was now a rush for the barn. When they
had all safely arrived in the chamber, Charlie suddenly and soberly
exclaimed, "There!"

"What's the matter?" inquired Sid. "You look pale. Has any one put his
sword--I mean his shield into--I mean on you?"

Charlie did not feel like joking. A dark thought had overshadowed him and
changed a peaceful to a threatening sky.

"What is it?" asked Gov. Grimes.

"I did not," replied Charlie, "ask Aunt Stanshy if we might have the
barn!"

That was an omission indeed, and the club appreciated it, as "Aunt
Stanshy" was well known by the boys. All the sunshine seemed to disappear
suddenly and a cloud was on every thing.

Aunt Stanshy's name in full was Constantia, but, like the crown-jewels of
England, it was only used on very important occasions. The house and barn
both belonged to Aunt Stanshy, property that had been willed her by her
father, Solomon Macomber, whose body slept under the wings of a blue-stone