_Mrs. Horn._ Oh! he thoroughly enjoys a romp. He's made himself perfectly hoarse with laughing. Just listen to him! _Mrs. Honey._ What a sturdy little fellow he is! And always in such high spirits! _Mrs. Horn_ (_confidentially_). He hasn't seemed quite the thing for the last day or two, and I was doubting whether it wouldn't be better to keep him at home to-night, but he begged so hard that I really had to give way. _Mrs. Honey._ So glad you did! It doesn't seem to have done him any harm. _Mrs. Horn._ Quite the contrary. And indeed, he couldn't help being the better for it; you understand so thoroughly how to make children happy, dear Mrs. Honeybun. _Mrs. Honey._ It's delightful of you to say so; I try my best, but one can't always----Last year we had a conjurer, and it was only when he'd begun that we found out he was helplessly intoxicated. _Mrs. Horn._ How disagreeable for you! But this time everything has been quite perfect! _Mrs. Honey._ Well, I really think there has been no----Good gracious! I'm _sure_ somebody is being suffocated! _Did_ you hear that? [_From the core of the heap proceeds a sound at which every mother's heart quakes--a smothered cough ending in a long-drawn and ominous "oo-ook."_ _Mrs. Horn._ Depend upon it, that's whooping-cough! Tommy, come here this minute. (_Tommy emerges, crimson and crowing lustily; the mothers collect their offspring in dismay_). Oh! Tommy, Tommy, don't tell me it's _you_! It--it can't be _that_, dear Mrs. Honeybun; he's been nowhere where he could possibly----You naughty boy, you _know_ you are only pretending. Don't let me hear that horrid noise again. _Tommy_ (_injured_). But, mummy, _really_ I wasn't---- [_He justifies himself by producing a series of whoops with an unmistakably genuine ring_. _Mrs. Horn._ I think it's only a rather severe attack of hiccoughs, dear Mrs. Honeybun; but still, perhaps--just to be on the safe side--I'd better---- [_She departs in confusion, the crowd on the stairs dividing like Red Sea waves as Tommy proclaims his approach._ _Mrs. Honey_ (_after the last guest has gone_). I knew _something_ would happen! I must say it was _most_ inconsiderate of Mrs. Hornblower to bring that wretched little Tommy out and break up the party like this--it's not as if we were really _intimate_! Still, it was ridiculous of everybody else to hurry off too, as if whooping-cough was anything to be so mortally afraid of! I wasn't in the _least_ myself, as they might have seen. But perhaps it _is_ just as well that Edwin and Arthur had it last winter. * * * * * READY ANSWER.--_Uncle._ Now, how did the mother of Moses hide him? _Niece._ With a stick, uncle. * * * * * [Illustration: ON THE FACE OF IT _Pretty Teacher._ "Now, Johnny Wells, can you tell me what is meant by a miracle?" _Johnny._ "Yes, teacher. Mother says if you dun't marry new parson, 'twull be a murracle!"]