"I am sorry, Mr. Muir," Bess said, "to be forced to apologize for such mischief. The truth of the matter is, that I left two small boys alone in the library, with nothing to do. This is only one more proof that; Satan finds some mischief still."
"FRANK MUIR BURST INTO A HEARTY LAUGH
AS HE ROSE TO RESCUE THE UNOFFENDING CAT."
"Who are they?" asked Mr. Washburn, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes, while Mr. Muir put the cat, now barefooted again, down on the floor, and fastened the rose into his own buttonhole.
"Rob and Fred," answered Bess. "I am sorry to confess that my small cousin is such an imp."
"I had no idea of it," said Mr. Washburn. "He is always so demure in the choir, and I fancied that Fred was very quiet, too."
"He usually is, but Rob is in one of his wild moods to-night, and I suspect they set each other on, for it isn't like either one of them, alone. Please excuse them, for I know it was simple thoughtlessness, and they had no idea of being rude."
Bess spoke with such a pretty air of earnestness that Mr. Muir would have excused her boys twice over, even if he had been annoyed by their mischief, instead of thoroughly amused.
"Who are these boys?" he asked. "Is one the darker of the choir-leaders, the one with the high soprano voice? I think Mr. Washburn said he was your cousin. And who is the other? I think you ought to make them appear now."