2 <2 mS

VII.

Hast and Cdorst.

¥ \eNLUCKY ! unlucky! unlucky!” cried
oN > Dick Wells, joining a group of the older
MO boys on the play-ground. “Is it not,
. Tom, the most unlucky thing in the world,
) that the birth-day fete and the circus come
on the same day; I never heard of anything more pro-
voking? How can we manage it ?”

“It is, indeed, bad enough,” answered Tom, “ but
we must do the best we can, and that is, to leave home
as early as possible, and come out of the circus before
it is over, and try to be at home again by four o'clock,
which is the hour we are invited to the fete.”

“Yes, that is all we can do,” answered Dick, “un-
less we give it up altogether, and that is what I will
not do, happen what may. There never was such a
tempting hand-bill, and I must go, and think of the
consequences afterwards.”

    
 
 

“We must obtain permission,” said Tom, “to go to
the woods immediately after dinner, and as soon as we