"I didn't mean it--really I didn't. Come, sit down and have the pie, that's a good boy. I'm glad you are back, and you are better than lots of the other cadets, so there!" And Tom slid into a seat and devoured the generous slice of pie dealt out to him with keen relish. "It's really like home," he murmured presently. "Mrs. Green, when you die, they ought to erect an awfully big monument over your grave." "But I'm not dying just yet, Tom--pray don't speak of it." "By the way, my aunt was dyeing when I left home," went on the boy, as he moved toward the door. "Indeed. Didn't you hate to leave her?" "Not at all. She didn't seem to mind it." "What was her trouble, Tom--consumption?" "No, she had an old brown dress that had faded out green and she was dyeing it black," was the soft answer, and then Tom ran for his life. Mrs. Green did not speak to him for almost a week after that. And yet with it all she couldn't help but like the boy. Of course Peleg Snuggers came in for his full share of attention, and the utility man had all sorts of jokes played on him until he was almost in despair. "Don't, young gents, don't!" he would plead. "Oh, my! An' to think the term's just begun!" And he mopped his brow with his red bandanna handkerchief. "Peleg, you are getting handsomer every day," remarked Sam. "It's a wonder you don't go into the beauty show in New York." "Wot kind of a joke is that, Master Rover?" "Oh, it's no joke. You are handsome. Won't you let me take your photograph?" "Have you got a camera?" "To be sure. Here it is." Sam drew a tiny box from his pocket. "Now stand still and I'll take a snap shot." Snuggers had wanted to have his picture taken for some time, to send to a certain girl in Cedarville in whom he was much interested. To have a photograph taken for nothing tickled him greatly. "Wait till I brush up a bit," he said, and got out a pocket comb, with which he adjusted his hair and his stubby mustache. "Now stand straight and look happy!" cried Sam as a crowd collected around. "Raise you right hand to your breast, just as all statesmen do. Up with your chin--don't drop your left eye--close your mouth. Now then, don't budge on your life!" Peleg Snuggers stood like a statue, his chin well up in the air and his eyes set into a steady stare. Sam elevated the tiny box and kept the man standing for fully half a minute, while the boys behind Snuggers could scarcely keep from roaring. "There you are," said Sam at last. "Now wait a minute and the picture will be finished." "Don't you have to print 'em in the sun?" asked Snuggers. "No, this is a new patented process." Sam drew a square of tin from the box. "There you are, Peleg, and all for nothing." "I don't see any picture," growled Snuggers, looking at the square blankly. "You must breathe on it, Peleg; then the picture will come out beautifully. It's a little fresh yet."