"Well then!" said Miss Billy triumphantly. "Mother would have had him there long ago if your mother was dangerously ill. She'll probably be all right in a day or two. Now cheer up, Holly Belle, and tell me what there is that I can do for you." A loud shriek from the back of the house answered the question. "It's the children," said Holly Belle. "They've been going on that way for an hour steady. I could make 'em behave, if it wasn't for Launkelot. But he's got up a new game, an' of course they're all bound to see it through." "May I borrow them for a while?" asked Miss Billy. Holly Belle gave a visible sigh of relief. "I sh'd say you can," she responded heartily. There was no difficulty in finding the children, for a great hubbub in the back yard indicated that the small Canarys were having a decidedly hilarious and enlivening time during their mother's enforced retirement. Miss Billy went around the walk to the back of the Lee house, and surveyed her charges over the fence. The back yard in the Canary premises had been partitioned off into little squares by means of a boot-heel which had grooved the hard dirt. In the first square sat Ginevra "With raven ringlets unconfined, And blowing madly in the wind." Her face and arms and bare legs were adorned with fantastic designs in coloured chalk; and a frayed rope, attached by means of a safety-pin to the hem of her dress, gave unmistakable evidence of a tail. She was waving her arms violently, and giving vent to wild, unearthly screams. Fridoline, in the next compartment, had wound his fat body with coils of rope, which he was painstakingly chewing. Tightly wedged into a dishpan in the third square, sat "Mixy" Murphy, in an airy costume of shirt and drawers; while Mike, the Baby, and the Other Baby were crawling about the ground in an abandonment of delight. Miss Billy waited for a lull in the proceedings. When it came she made haste to ask: "What in the world is all this?" Launcelot, who was strutting through the enclosure, armed with a whip, took it upon himself to reply: "We're havin' a street carnival," he explained. "Fridoline is playin' he's Bosco the Snake Eater, Jinny's Minnie the Wild Girl, an' Mixy is the High Diver. You have to pay five pins to see him dive from the fence to the tank. The Kids is camels, an' I'm boss o' the hull outfit. Frid, jest show Miss Billy how much rope you can swaller without gettin' black in the face." Miss Billy hastened to prevent the heroic exhibition. "Oh, no," she said, "you needn't mind, Friddie. I've got something else for you to do. Wouldn't you all like to come over and see me this morning?" The Street Carnival Company gave vent to a wild yell of delight. "Well, pick up your things first," cautioned Miss Billy, "and then come quietly so you won't disturb your mother. I'll be waiting for you."