“I had no idea of it,” said Mr. Washburn. “He is always so demure in the choir, and I fancied that Fred was very quiet, too.”
“He usually is, but Rob is in one of his wild moods to-night, and I suspect they set each other on, for it isn’t like either one of them, alone. Please excuse them, for I know it was simple thoughtlessness, and they had no idea of being rude.”
Bess spoke with such a pretty air of earnestness that Mr. Muir would have excused her boys twice over, even if he had been annoyed by their mischief, instead of thoroughly amused.
“Who are these boys?” he asked. “Is one the darker of the choir-leaders, the one with the high soprano voice? I think Mr. Washburn said he was your cousin. And who is the other? I think you ought to make them appear now.”
Bess hesitated for a moment.
“If Mr. Washburn will tell you about Fred while I am gone, I will go to call them,” she said.
Rob had prudently gone home, and Fred was
