of attention when she wished to. She brought it into play to-night, and
in ten minutes, aided by Sadness, she had a crowd of jolly people about
her table. When, as she would have expressed it, "everything was going
fat," she suddenly paused and, turning her eyes full upon Minty, said in
a voice loud enough for all to hear,--

"Say, boys, you 've heard that story about Joe, have n't you?"

They had.

"Well, that 's the one that told it; she 's come here to try to throw
him and me down. Is she going to do it?"

"Well, I guess not!" was the rousing reply, and every face turned
towards the now frightened Minty. She rose hastily and, getting her
skirts together, fled from the room, followed more leisurely by the
crestfallen Griggs. Hattie's laugh and "Thank you, fellows," followed
her out.

* * * * *

Matters were less easy for Joe's mother and sister than they were for
him. A week or more after this, Kitty found him and told him that
Minty's story had reached their employers and that they were out of
work.

"You see, Joe," she said sadly, "we 've took a flat since we moved from
Mis' Jones', and we had to furnish it. We 've got one lodger, a
race-horse man, an' he 's mighty nice to ma an' me, but that ain't
enough. Now we 've got to do something."