Don't say a word, any of you, but just listen." A sudden silence, broken only by a soft chuckle from the abused David, descended on the seven young people occupying the worn stone steps.
"No-ra!" From the rear of the old house a plaintive voice sent up this anguished plea for succor.
"What did I tell you ?" Nora's elaborate air of indifference vanished in a dimpling smile that was reflected on the faces of the group.

No one said a word; neither did Nora rise to the noble duty of rescuer.
"All alone, all alone! By the wayside she has left me, And no other's love I'll be; For to-night I am deserted; Nora has forgotten me!" intoned a mournful voice, flagrantly off the key.
"For to-night you are a nuisance, you mean," was Reddy Brooks' shouted correction.

"I'll rescue you." "Oh, my!" came Hippy's horrified accents, as Reddy Brooks leaped to his feet and dived toward the sheltering shadow that concealed the self-made outcast.
"Isn't it a lovely evening, David?
Have you noticed it ?" A fat, beaming face was cautiously thrust forth round a corner opposite to that from which the call for help had so recently emanated.

A plump body still more cautiously followed the face.

It was evident that Hippy considered David the lesser of two evils.