It was a rule that the maids should make the beds, and put the rooms in order while the pupils were at breakfast, and on that morning it fell to Maggie's share of the work to care for the only room now occupied.
She was a good-natured Irish girl, and she entered the room singing:
"'Now, Rory, be aisy, don't tase me no more,
'Tis the—'"
"Och, murther! Murther! There's a man under the bed, an' he grabbed me by me shoe,—oh! oh!"
Down-stairs she ran, screaming all the way, declaring that there was a man up-stairs, and calling for some one brave enough to "dhrive him out."
Her terror was very real, and Marcus was called in to oust the intruder.
"It must be a sneak-thief," said Miss Fenler.
"It am a sneak-thief," said Marcus, appearing with the small dog in his arms.
"He stole a slipper, an den sneaked under der bed ter chew on it. Sure, he am a sneak-thief, but I knows a cullud gemman what wants a dog, an' I guess he's 'bout the right size. Dey has a pow'ful small house, an' him an' his wife, an' seben chilluns lib in dem two rooms, so he couldn't want no bigger dog dan dis yar."
"Why nobody can give that dog away!" shrieked Patricia. "I bought him yesterday, and paid the man two dollars for him. He's mine!"