stood, then he looked over at Mrs. Procter.

"I wonder, madam," he said, "if you and your family would do me the
honor to drive with me."

Suzanna's eyes grew like stars, Maizie wrung her hands in a very
eloquence of prayer as she awaited her mother's answer; Peter just
stared, speech stricken from him; Mabel turned in her toes in her agony.
The baby only was unconcerned. Finally Mrs. Procter answered:

"We'll be very glad to, I'm sure, Mr. Massey." And in less time than it
takes to tell, Mrs. Procter, the baby on her knees, sat beside Mr.
Massey in the carriage, while the three little girls sat on a seat
facing Mrs. Procter, a seat that could at will be let down or pushed
back. Peter, to his everlasting delight, sat beside the coachman.

"Out into the country, Robert," said Mr. Massey to his coachman, and so
away they started at a leisurely pace, since the complacent horses
refused any other. Sometimes vagrant chickens wandered into the road,
exhibiting a daring that enthralled Peter. His opinion of chickens rose
when, the fat horses almost upon their tail feathers, they disdainfully
moved off.

"We couldn't run one down, I suppose," he asked Robert, hopefully. "Just
take a feather off, you know, to learn 'em a lesson."

"I scared a pair of 'em good and proper, once," returned Robert, who had
been, known to coddle an ailing worm, but at the moment he was just a
little boy with Peter, in very proper high spirits. And while braggingly
he went on talking to his delighted listener, the rest of the party were