"Well, I shouldn't much blame him, I do say, if he did," observed Theodora, laughing again.
"I would if I were he," said Addison. "You see, they begun on Enoch in the first place."
Just then we heard a little creaking noise in the chamber stairway.
"Sh," whispered Theodora. "I believe Halse is there, on the stairs, listening."
"Well, listeners rarely hear much good of themselves," said Addison, loudly enough for him to hear it. We heard still another little creaking noise, this time higher up the stairs, as if he were tiptoeing back to his room.
"I am sorry if he overheard us," Theodora remarked in a low tone, as we got up to go to our rooms.
"I don't care," said Addison. "What could he expect any one to say of a mean thing like that?"
When I entered our room, Halse was in bed, and pretended to snore.
"Oh, that's too thin, Halse," said I. "We heard you on the stairs."
"You are a couple of tell-tales!" he exclaimed, hotly. "To come home and chatter out everything that happened, to the girls!"