.

BERTRAM TAKES THE REINS.
With stiffly pompous dignity Pete opened the door.

The next moment he fell back in amazement before the impetuous rush of a starry-eyed, flushed-cheeked young woman who demanded: "Where is he, Pete ?" "Miss Billy!" gasped the old man.

Then he saw Aunt Hannah--Aunt Hannah with her bonnet askew, her neck-bow awry, one hand bare, and the other half covered with a glove wrong side out.

Aunt Hannah's cheeks, too, were flushed, and her eyes starry, but with dismay and anger--the last because she did not like the way Pete had said Miss Billy's name.