`` I beg pardon , but the parlor is full of company , and that fool of a Joe came roaring in with a cock-and-bull story that gave me quite a turn . What is it , Mr. Frank ? '' she asked eagerly , seeing that something was amiss . He told her in a few words , and she was much relieved to find that no harm had been done . `` Ah , the danger is to come , '' said Frank , darkly , as he went away to wash his hands and prepare to relate his misdeeds . It was a very bad quarter of an hour for the poor fellow , who so seldom had any grave faults to confess ; but he did it manfully , and his mother was so grateful for the safety of her boy that she found it difficult to be severe enough , and contented herself with forbidding any more visits to the too charming No. 11 . `` What do you suppose will be done to me ? '' asked Frank , on whom the idea of imprisonment had made a deep impression . `` I do n't know , dear , but I shall go over to see Mr. Burton right after tea . He will tell us what to do and what to expect . Gus must not suffer for your fault . '' `` He 'll come off clear enough , but Joe must take his share , for if he had n't opened that confounded switch , no harm would have been done . But when I saw the way clear , I actually could n't resist going ahead , '' said Frank , getting excited again at the memory of that blissful moment when he started the engine . Here Jack came hurrying in , having heard the news , and refused to believe it from any lips but Frank 's . When he could no longer doubt , he was so much impressed with the daring of the deed that he had nothing but admiration for his brother , till a sudden thought made him clap his hands and exclaim exultingly , -- `` His runaway beats mine all hollow , and now he ca n't crow over me ! Wo n't that be a comfort ? The good boy has got into a scrape . Hooray ! '' This was such a droll way of taking it , that they had to laugh ; and Frank took his humiliation so meekly that Jack soon fell to comforting him , instead of crowing over him . Jill thought it a most interesting event ; and , when Frank and his mother went over to consult Mr. Burton , she and Jack planned out for the dear culprit a dramatic trial which would have convulsed the soberest of judges .
His sentence was ten years ' imprisonment , and such heavy fines that the family would have been reduced to beggary but for the sums made by XXXXX 's fancy work and Jack 's success as a champion pedestrian .
Burton Frank Gus Jack Jill Joe danger hour right something