"Yes, of course; jump at the chance. _I'll do it_. Our boys will think it odd, I suppose; but I guess I have courage enough to do as I please."

And Howard drew himself up proudly, and thought of his father's hero.

So this was why Tip was invited to the birthday gathering at the grand house on the hill.

Mrs. Lewis sewed, that afternoon, on his jacket, mending it up more neatly than ever before. She had said very little about this invitation, but she couldn't help feeling proud and gratified over it. It was certainly a wonderful jump for Tip, from mingling with the worst and lowest boys in town, to find himself taking a long stride, and reaching the very top. So Mrs. Lewis sewed, and Kitty, as she sat watching the needle fly back and forth, spoke her thoughts:

"All of the boys down to Mr. Burrows' school wear white collars on their jackets."

"Well," answered her mother snappishly, "what's that to me? S'posing they wear white _cats_ on their jackets, I could get him one just as easy as t'other."

It was a sore subject with Mrs. Lewis. From her very heart she wished she could dress Tip in broadcloth to-day, just as fine as that which Howard Minturn himself wore, and a collar so white and shiny that it would fairly dazzle the eyes of the others to look upon it; but, since she was so powerless to do what she would, it made her cross.

The bedroom door was open, and Tip's father heard. By and by, when his cough was quieter, he called, "Kitty!" and the little girl went in to him. "Is the jacket fixed, Kitty?"

"Yes."

"Does it look nice?"

"Some."

"Would you like to find a collar for Tip to wear?"

"Well enough," said Kitty wonderingly.

"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, s...o...b..lling, 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 gla.s.sy surface.

"Hurry up," called out Howard, as he spun along. "What the mischief became of you? We thought you had gone to hunt up Sir John Franklin and crew."

"Hurry down, I should say you meant," answered Ellis, guiding his sled skilfully around the curve, and springing to his feet. "I waited for the rest of you; thought you were coming back."

"No," said Howard, "we just _ain't_. We appointed a committee to find out how many were frozen up altogether entirely, and found that every single one of us were; so we're going in to the library fire to get thawed out by tea-time."

"All right," said Ellis, shouldering his sled; "Howard, where's your skates?"

"Oh, bother! they're at the top of that awful hill. Never mind; you walk on slowly, and I'll run back and get them."

The boys obeyed, and Ellis Holbrook was just swinging open the little gate that led to Mr. Minturn's grounds, when Howard called, as he ran down the hill, "Hold on! Don't go that way, it will lead you right through the deepest snow there is; take the big gate." And by the time he reached them, panting and breathless, they were at the big gate.

"This is jolly," said Will Bailey, throwing himself into a great arm-chair before the glowing fire. "My! I believe I'm a s...o...b..ll."

"You'd have been an icicle if you had gone the way Ellis was leading you; why, the snow is so high," said Howard, raising his hand almost on a level with his head.

Ellis laughed. "I'm sure I thought I was going right," he said. "I must have been thinking of yesterday's lesson in Sunday school,--'Enter ye in at the strait gate.'"

"Ho!" said Will Bailey; "for that matter, one gate is as straight as the other."

"You don't understand the Bible, my boy," said Howard, laying his hand on Will's shoulder with a provoking little pat, "or you'd know that strait means narrow."

"I'll bet a dollar that you were no wiser yourself until father explained the verse yesterday," said Ellis, laughing.

Tip, meantime, stood apart flushed and silent; he knew about the Sunday lesson, and remembered the solemn talk which Mr. Holbrook gave them; and remembered how he urged them, while they were young, to enter into that strait gate; he felt shocked and troubled at the sound of Ellis's careless words.

"I know one thing," he said abruptly.

"Do you?" said Will Bailey in a mocking tone. "That's very strange!" Will felt above Tip, and took care to let him know it.

Ellis turned a quick, indignant glance on him; then spoke to Tip in a kind and interested tone: "What were you going to say, Tip."

"That, if I were the minister's son, I wouldn't make fun of the Bible."

Ellis's face was crimson in an instant. "What do you mean by that?" he asked haughtily.