"Why, he said, 'You won't dare follow me,' and I said, 'Yes, I would.' And I never mistrusted where he was going. Who'd have thought of his climbing top of a house?"
"Why, Jamie Dunlee, you did not follow Nate without knowing where he was going?"
"Yes, mamma; if I had known I wouldn't have followed. But you see he had stumped me and I'd taken the stump, so I was obliged to go!"
"Obliged to go!" repeated Aunt Vi, laughing, "Isn't that characteristic of Jimmy?"
The little fellow felt guiltier than ever. When Aunt Vi used that word of five syllables it always meant that people had done very wrong, so he thought.
"Jamie," said his mother very seriously, "I am surprised that you should have promised to follow Nate without knowing where he was going! And you never even asked him where he was going! Is that the way you play, you boys?"
"No, mamma, it isn't. Nate makes you play his way because he's the oldest. He's just as mean! But I couldn't back out after I was stumped."
"Oh, fie! Backing out is exactly the thing to do when a boy is trying to lead you into mischief! But we'll talk more of this by and by."
As they entered the dining-room, Jimmy squared his shoulders and would not look toward Nate's table; and Nate, who had been severely reproved by his parents, never once raised his eyes from his plate. No one felt very happy. Jimmy's new suit was ruined; and Mr. Dunlee had already learned that it would cost ten dollars to restore the tile chimney. Nor was this all. While Jimmy was trying to console himself with ice-cream he suddenly thought of his father's watch! It must have dropped out of his pocket when he slid down the roof; but where, oh, where was it now? Was it still on the ground, or had some one picked it up? Joe Rolfe had been there, so had Chicken Little and a dozen others. He must go and look for that watch, he must go this minute.
"Mamma," he murmured, pushing aside his saucer of ice-cream, "may I—may I be excused?"