WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DREADFUL HOUSE


When the door of the house flew open with a bang, the lady holding Bumper
put one hand to her heart, and exclaimed:

"Oh, dear, what has happened now!"

Bumper couldn't see any one in the dark, but evidently the lady could, for
a cool, quiet voice spoke to her.

"Toby threw his playthings down the stairs, and he's riding the banisters
with a tin pan for a hat. I suppose you heard the clatter of the pan as it
fell off."

"It sounded to me as if the house was falling down, Mary! I do wish Toby
would behave."

The one addressed as Mary laughed. She seemed like a pleasant, wholesome
young woman, with pink cheeks and smiling gray eyes. "I've told him to
behave a dozen times, but he won't mind. He's been cutting up all the
morning. But what have you there in your arms, Aunt Helen?"

"Guess, Mary. It's for Toby's birthday."

"Some kind of a toy, I suppose--or maybe a book."

"A book for Toby! What an idea! He'd throw it in the fire unless he liked
the pictures. No, it's something prettier and better than a book."