"H'm! I was hoping, expecting in fact, that you, yourself, would be chosen to perform that pleasing duty. Had you been, we could have prepared our several speeches with a view to their proper relation to each other. It occurred to me that your teacher, Miss Grey, would have this fact in mind. Do you happen to know of any reason why she should not have appointed you?" For the first time in the course of the conversation Pen hesitated and stammered. "Why, I--she--she did appoint me." "Haven't you just told me, sir, that--" "But, grandfather, I declined." Aunt Millicent dropped her hands into her lap in astonishment. "Pen Butler!" she exclaimed, "why haven't you told me a word of this before?" "Because, Aunt Milly, it wasn't a very agreeable incident, and I didn't want to bother you telling about it." Colonel Butler had, in the meantime, again put on his glasses in order that he might look more searchingly at his grandson. "Permit me to inquire," he asked, "why you should have declined so distinct an honor?" Then Pen blurted out his whole grievance. "Because Aleck Sands didn't do the fair thing. He got you to give the flag through him instead of through me, by a mean trick. He gets the credit of getting the flag; now let him have the honor of accepting it. I won't play second fiddle to such a fellow as he is, and that's all there is to it." He pushed his chair back from the table and sat, with flaming cheeks and defiant eyes, as if ready to meet all comers. Aunt Millicent, more astonished than ever, exclaimed: "Why, Pen Butler, I'm shocked!" But the colonel did not seem to be shocked. Back of his glasses there was a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes which Pen could not see. Here was the old Butler pride and independence manifesting itself; the spirit which had made the family prosperous and prominent. He was not ill-pleased. Nevertheless he leaned back in his chair and spoke impressively: "Now let us consider the situation. You received from your teacher a copy of the same subscription blank which was handed to your fellow-pupil. Had you met your engagement at the station, and called the matter to my attention, you would doubtless have received my subscription, or been the bearer of my offer, in preference to any one else. In your absence your school-fellow seized a legitimate opportunity to present his case. My regret at your failure to appear, and my appreciation of his alertness, led me to favor him. I am unable to see why, under these circumstances, he should be charged with improper conduct." "Well," responded Pen, hotly, "he might at least have told you that I had a subscription blank too." "He did so inform me. And his fairness and frankness in doing so was an inducing cause of my favorable consideration of his request." Pen felt that the ground was being cut away from under his feet, but he still had one grievance left.