Archie tried to defend himself: 'I think she looks better with her hair cut short,' he said; 'lots of girls wear it like that. And, don't you see, Winnie, this has been a plot got up by the jester; Ethelinda was innocent all the time, and he's just nicely caught in his own trap.... That--that's the _surprise_!' 'I don't believe you one bit!' said Winifred. 'You had no business to cut even my jester's head off, but you meant to do much worse! I won't play with you any more, and I shan't forgive you till the very day you go back to school!' 'But, Winnie,' protested Archie, looking rather sheepish and ashamed of himself. 'Go away directly,' said Winnie, stamping her foot; 'I don't want to listen; leave me alone!' So Archie went, not sorry, now, that an accident had kept him from doing his worst, and feeling tolerably certain that he would be able to make his cousin relent long before the time she had fixed, while Winifred, left to herself again, was so absorbed in sobbing over Ethelinda's sad disfigurement, that she quite forgot to pick up the split halves of the jester's head which were lying on the nursery floor. * * * * * That night Ethelinda had the chest of drawers all to herself, and the old Sausage Glutton grinned savagely at her from the mantelpiece, for he was disappointed at the way in which his plans had turned out. 'Good evening,' he began, with one of his nastiest sneers. 'And how are you after your little romance, eh? Master Archie very nearly had your pretty little empty head off--but of course I couldn't allow that. I hope you enjoyed yourself?' 'I did at first,' said Ethelinda; 'I got frightened afterwards, when I thought it wasn't going to end at all nicely. But did you notice how very wickedly that dreadful jester behaved to me--it will be a warning to me against associating with such persons in future, and I assure you that there was something about him that made me shudder from the very first! I have heard terrible things about the dolls in the Lowther Arcade, and what can you expect at such prices? Well, he's rewarded for his crimes, and that's a comfort to think of--but it has all upset me very much indeed, and I don't want any more romance--it does shorten the hair so!' The Dutch fairy doll heard her and was very angry, for she knew of course why the jester had come to a tragic ending. 'Shall I tell her now, and make her ashamed and sorry--would she believe me? would she care? Perhaps not, but I must speak out some time--only I had better wait till the clock has stopped. I can't bear her to talk about that poor jester in this way.' But it really did not matter to the jester, who could hear or feel nothing any more--for they had thrown him into the dustbin, where, unless the dustcart has called since, he is lying still. _AN UNDERGRADUATE'S AUNT._ [Illustration: F]