It did occur to Susy that this was a great pity; and, indeed, it is quite probable, Mrs. Parlin would not have left the house if she could have foreseen how much her presence would be needed. And after all it was Dotty Dimple, and not Flyaway, who made the whole trouble. Flyaway was under every one's feet, it is true, and sat down in the middle of the floor to comb and brush the kitty's head; but then she never for a moment lost her temper: it was Dotty, the girl old enough to know better, who was cross and disagreeable. I am sorry to record this of Dotty, and so I will try to make a little excuse for her. She was not well. She had hardly felt like herself since that unfortunate boat-ride. She was sleepy and tired, and ought to have gone to bed at eight o'clock--the usual hour. Then, again, the guests were nearly all older than herself, and paid very little attention to her. She thought she might as well have worn her calico wrapper as this beautiful white delaine, for all the notice they took of her dress. There was only one child present of Dotty's own age,--Johnny Eastman,--and if he would only have played cat's cradle with her, all might have gone well. But Johnny had not forgotten the severe correction his father had given him in the stable with a horsewhip. Every time he looked at his little cousin, the thought arose,-- "She was real mean to run and tell! I'll pay her for that--won't I, though?" Percy had promised to aid him in his revenge; and you will presently learn what this was to be. Percy liked "cousin Dimple" very well; he was only putting a wicked scheme into his little brother's head "just for the fun of the thing." The guests were talking of having a few tableaux and charades, like some they had seen arranged by their older sisters. "I don't care anything about their old tolly-blows--do you, Johnny?" said Dotty. "Let's play 'I spy'--you and I." "No, you don't catch me playing high spy with such a cross party as you are, Dot Dimple." "I wish you'd stop calling me a 'cross party' the whole time, Johnny Eastman," replied Dotty, shaking her elbows. Just then Susy came, and whispered a few words in her ear. "No, I won't be hung! I'm sure I won't be hung!" cried Dotty, who was by this time very much out of sorts. "O, Dotty! what makes you act so? We've got a charade, 'Crisis.' Half of us are going to play it for the other half to guess. We only want to weigh you, with a yardstick through an old shawl; that's all. Come, let us pin you up; there's a goody girl." "I don't want to be a goody girl. I'm too big to be goody. If you want a baby to make believe with, why don't you take Flyaway? She's littler than me." "There, there!" said Prudy, coming to the rescue, "you needn't do a single thing, Dotty, if you don't want to. We didn't know but you'd like to play be weighed, you can squeal so be-_you_-tifully!"