as quickly as he had gone down, he bade Harold try it with him.

'It's such fun! and mother won't care. I've done it forty times,' he
said, as Harold demurred; and then, as the temptation became too strong
to be resisted, two boys instead of one rode down the banister and
landed in the lower hall, and two pairs of little legs ran nimbly up the
stairs just as the door opened and admitted the first arrival.




CHAPTER VII.

THE PARTY.


The invitations had been for half-past seven, and precisely at that hour
Peterkin arrived, magnificent in his swallow-tail and white shirt front,
where an enormous diamond shone conspicuously. With him came the second
Mrs. Peterkin, whose name was Mary Jane, but whom her husband always
called _May_ Jane. She was a frail, pale faced little woman, and had
once been Grace Atherton's maid, but had married Peterkin for his money.
This was her first appearance at a grand party, and in her excitement
and timidity she did not hear Harold's thrice repeated words, 'Ladies go
that way,' but followed her husband into the gentlemen's dressing-room,
where she deposited her wraps, and then, shaking in every limb,
descended to the drawing-room, where Peterkin's boisterous laugh was
soon heard, as he slapped his host on the shoulder, and said:

'You see, we are here on time, though May Jane said it was too early.