"We'll let that go as if we was much obliged. to them; but we'll raise ten cents more apiece, an' buy aunt Betsey wood enough to last her till summer. If we pay the money now, we can each get a saw, an' have it all cut up before night. The girls won't have any the best of us then; aunt Betsey will be just that much better off; we can have our sleigh-ride, and we can go to the party as well. But if we should do simply one thing or the other, then the girls would be sure to think we had been beaten. Now, if all the fellers will agree to that, I'll get my share of the money right away, an' we'll ask Deacon Littlefield to buy the wood this morning."

Tom saw, even before he had ceased speaking, that the majority of the boys were in favor of. his scheme, since by carrying it out they would miss neither one pleasure nor the other, and would only be obliged to pay ten cents extra, and to spend a little time sawing wood.

"But we can't get both sleighs for the same price we could one," said Si; but even this objection showed that he was favorably inclined towards Tom's scheme, if it could be accomplished without too great a sacrifice.

"Yes, we can, if we don't take them till the middle of the afternoon.

We will start about three o'clock, an' come back to Aggie's house in time for the party."

"But how'll you fix it about the letters?" asked Si.

"I'll send this one to Maria Gilman, for she sent me the necktie, an'

you can all copy it."

Then Tom read the following letter, which he had written while the others had been talking:

DEAR RIE: - I am much obliged for the invitation and the necktie. I will be there by eight o'clock if you will do a little favor for me. Us boys have been getting up a sleigh- ride for Sat.u.r.day afternoon; we shall start about three o'clock from the schoolhouse, and get back to Aggie's in time for the party. Will you go?

I am sure aunt Betsey will feel grateful to you girls when she knows you each gave twenty cents towards making her comfortable, and if it had not been for the "lack of money," we boys would have paid our share.

Your friend, TOM.

"Hurrah! " shouted Dan Crockett. "I reckon that will fix things, an'

when they find that we bought the wood for aunt Betsey, they can't think that they've got the right to feel very superior."

"They'll never know but that we meant all the time to do this very thing," said Tom, "an'

we shall have as good a time as can be had."

There was no question but that this scheme would be carried out, for even Si Kelly came to understand that it was a very graceful way of extricating themselves from what, at one time, promised to be a decidedly disagreeable position, and he announced his decision by saying:

"Now, every feller must hurry home an' get the ten cents, so's we can buy the wood quick, an' then there won't be any chance for the girls to believe that we thought of this after we got their letters."

"Take the money you had collected for the ride, an' we will all make it up before night,"

suggested Tom.

In another moment Si was running at full speed towards Deacon Littlefield's house to ask him to buy the wood, and Tom suggested that each sleigh-rider sharpen his saw in order to be ready for work as soon as the fuel should be in aunt Betsey's yard.

Before night the wood had been purchased, , sawed, and split; the letters had been written and sent to the girls, and both of Mr. Grout's sleighs engaged for Sat.u.r.day afternoon.

The story of the ride, and of the necktie party that followed it, would, without doubt, be interesting; but the telling of these pleasant festivities would'

occupy too much s.p.a.ce. Suffice it to say that the girls readily accepted the invitations that were the result of Tom's scheme, and although they learned from some of the more garrulous sleigh-riders under just what press of circ.u.mstances they had been given, the "ten - centers" were too generous to hint of what they knew.

Aggie's party was a dazzling success. Every one appeared to have a good time, and the pairing off of the ap.r.o.ns and neckties caused considerable amus.e.m.e.nt, especially when Debby Thompson, the tallest girl present, found that she must accept the smallest boy - who was Winny, of course - as an escort.

It is hardly necessary to say that Winny was allowed to become one of the sleigh-riders; and since he had voluntarily agreed to go to the party, he was obliged to pay for his necktie, as well as his proportion of the cost of the sleighride and the wood. Thus it was that his love for cake proved to be quite expensive to him, owing to the varied schemes of his friends.

The End