Yet hardly a guest but could eat from either hand as he chose.

It was a scene of Babylonian profligacy--even the late owner of Frank joined in the revel full-spiritedly, and it endured to a certain moment of icy realization, suffered by the host.

It came when Solly Gumble, in the midst of much serving, bethought him of the blue jay.
"I managed to save him for you," he told the Wilbur twin, and reached down the treasure.

With a cloth he dusted the feathers and tenderly wiped the eyes.

"A first-class animal for fifty cents," he said--"and durable.