one hair off my Prue's head. I must have my brown ringlets to play
with sometimes."

Hugh could talk of nothing but the wonderful telephone. "I believe I
could make one," he said later on. "I understood a good deal of what
the man said. I shall require a new magnet and some other things.
I'll begin tomorrow." He had forgotten all about such trifles as
hidden ladders and treed sisters, and the girls did not remind him.

But when Mollie found herself alone with Grizzel she began to talk
about the little house and described a beautiful plan she had
concocted for a house-warming, finishing up with the remark that it
was a pity that Grizzel could not come.

"Why can't I come?" demanded Grizzel. "Of course I'll come. I adore
the little house."

"It's Hugh's house, and I don't think he will let you come if you
have a mysterious secret way of getting up and down. He won't like
it."

Grizzel was silent. "It's nothing very wonderful," she said at last.
"I was only paying Prudence out for forgetting me. She might have
remembered to let me down when Papa came home--" and Grizzel's eyes
filled with tears. Mollie's heart softened:

"He was in such a hurry that there was no time to get you, and it
was my fault afterwards just as much as Prue's."

"I'll tell you now if you like," Grizzel went on; "only you must