"Well, Isabelle, what are _you_ screaming for? You seem to be the last."
"Nonsense!" returned Doctor Rhodes. "You _couldn't_ have seen a pig. You've been having a nightmare--you ate too much roast pork for dinner."
"No, no," insisted Isabelle, "it _was_ a pig."
"There's no such animal as a night pig," returned Doctor Rhodes, with dignity. "Now get back to your beds, all of you, and don't let me hear another sound from any of you tonight, about pigs or anything else."
Mabel, tired as she was, stayed awake for an hour wondering what had become of the poor little pig. Although she listened with all her ears, not even the faintest squeal could she hear. Finally she dropped asleep.
"Mabel," said puzzled Isabelle, the next morning, "I really _thought_ I saw a pig last night. Did _you_ see one?"
"I thought I _heard_ one," returned Mabel, who was busy in the closet, stuffing a milky bottle into her pocket. "But of course no pig could climb all those stairs."
"That's so, too," said Isabelle. "It _may_ have been that pork--I forgot to eat my apple sauce."
"I'm sure it was pork," agreed Mabel, wickedly and truthfully.
At breakfast time Mabel found a note under her plate.
"Dear Mabel: Found at 7 A. M. one pig rooting under the dining room table for crumbs. Charles is building a pen for him in the back yard and all is well--thought you'd like to know.
At recess time, Mabel led Isabelle to the new pig pen. Maude and little Jane Pool were looking over the edge.
"Jane and I thought somebody ought to give him a name so _we_ did," said Maude, with a wicked glance at Isabelle. "Don't you think 'Clarence' would be a sweet name--for a pig?"
Then, with a gleeful shout, the naughty pair sped away to eat pie under the porch. And Sallie appeared with a message for Mabel.
"Doctor Rhodes wishes to see Miss Bennett in his office," announced Sallie.
"I'm told," said Doctor Rhodes, when Mabel stood demurely before him, "that Highland Hall has mysteriously acquired a pig. It occurs to me that you may be able to shed some light on the subject."
"Yes," said Mabel, "you've guessed right. I brought that pig home. Somebody had to--he was _so_ lonesome."
"You didn't say _pigs_. You said any of Charles's family."
"Hum--so I did. And you kept that animal in your room?"