Whereupon she produced the delicate bits of pasteboard, with her name
and address handsomely engraved thereon.

Nimble Dick took his between his soiled thumb and finger, turned it over
in a pretence of great interest, and finally endeavored to "sight" it
with his eye, as a workman does his board.

"What'll you do with us if we come?" Stephen Crowley asked, fixing what
was intended as a wise look upon her, the leer in his eye hinting that
he was smart enough to see another trap, and meant not to fall into it.

Mrs. Roberts laughed pleasantly.

"It is an unusual question, when one invites company," she said; "but I
don't mind answering it. For one thing I thought we would have an oyster
stew and some good coffee together. Then, if any of you like music, I
have a friend with me who is a good singer; and I have a few pictures I
should like you to see, if you cared to; and--I don't know whether you
are fond of flowers, but some of you may have a mother, or sister at
home who is, and the greenhouse is all aglow just now. Oh, how can I
tell what I should do to entertain guests? Just what seemed to me to be
pleasant at the time. That is the way I generally do. May I expect you?"

The boys stared. This was a new departure, indeed! How much of it did
she mean? What was she trying to do? Was it a trap? Still she had
rescued them from the police force, and they had not expected that, for
every boy of them knew that he had treated her shamefully. Timothy
Haskell was generally the quietest one of the group, and perhaps the
most straightforward. He went directly to the point of the question that