"Well, now, I've got two or three that I don't wear any more, and never shall, I guess" (this last spoken sadly); "s'pose you take one of 'em--they're in that square box under the table--and see if you can't sew it on the jacket, and make it look like what the other boys wear? Now, you try what you can do, just to see what Tip will say." Kitty went slowly over to the box. This was new work for her, but her father was very pale to-day, and those sadly-spoken words, "and never shall, I guess," had quieted her; so she made no answer, but drew out one of the collars. It looked nice and white, and shone, too. Mrs. Lewis had done it up late one night, with tears in her eyes, because she could not hope that it would be worn again. "What are you doing with that?" she asked sharply, as Kitty appeared from the bedroom. "Father wants Tip to wear it," answered Kitty. "I'll lend it to him," spoke the sick man; "we want him to look as decent as we can to-day, you know." Mrs. Lewis said no more, but it seemed to her like giving up one more hope of her husband's life. Tip came down from the garret, with neatly-brushed hair, and dressed in his clean shirt, nicely mended jacket, and the shiny collar. It was wonderful what a difference that collar made; he didn't look like the same boy. "Kitty," he said, his face all aglow with pleasure, "where _did_ I get a collar?" "It's father's; he said wear it," answered Kitty. "And how did it get on my jacket?" "Jumped on, likely." Kitty spoke in a short, half provoked tone; she was so unused to doing a kind thing, that she really felt half ashamed of it. "Well," said Tip, smiling all over his face, "if that's so, it's the best jump it ever took, and I thank it from the bottom of my heart." Then he carried his bright, good-natured face out of the little house in the hollow, and went towards the great house on the hill. CHAPTER XIV. "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Howard Minturn was a king among the schoolboys; so, though some of them nudged each other and laughed a little when Tip swung open the iron gate and appeared in Mr. Minturn's grounds, the most of them, seeing how quickly Howard sprang forward, and how heartily he greeted the newcomer, did the same. Howard was his father over again; if he did a thing at all, he did it well. Every moment of that afternoon was enjoyed as only boys know how to enjoy holidays: the whole round of winter fun was gone through with,--coasting, snowballing, building forts, rolling in the snow, each had their turn. Tip was not one whit behind the rest in all these matters, and if ever boy enjoyed an afternoon, he did that one. The sun had set in its clear, cold beauty, and the sharp winter night was coming down; the boys stood at the foot of the hill waiting for Ellis and his sled, which were at the top; they came at last, shooting down the glassy surface.