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said cautiously. "Could you play 'My Country 'Tis of Thee' backward?"
    Then he felt ashamed of himself for asking such a question. How did he know this man could play "My Country 'Tis of Thee" forward, let alone backward. Just because he, Rufus, could play "My Country 'Tis of Thee" frontward very fast on the Moffats' little organ did not mean that everybody else could play that song, too. And he himself had never tried it backward.
    But this man was such a remarkable player! Rufus imagined that he could easily play backward as well as fast, slow, and just right.
    Poompety, poomp!
The invisible piano player struck the last note. He had finished what he was playing. Maybe he was tired now. Maybe that was why he was playing so slowly. The keys were still. There was silence for a moment and Rufus strained his eyes, hoping to see just the vaguest outline of the invisible man.
    Then Rufus jumped! There was a sudden rattling noise inside the piano and a little slot above the keys sprang open, revealing the inner workings of the piano. Then came more rattling sounds and some round thing kept winding rapidly.
    He's going inside where the machinery is, that's what!
thought Rufus excitedly.
    "Hey, is that your house, mister?" he asked.
    There was no answer to this question.
    Might be a boy after all,
thought Rufus,
because that hole is not very big. Might be about my size,
he thought.
    Rufus waited to see if the invisible piano player would come out and play again. But the keys remained still. No more hopping up and down. The man was through. And at this moment Rufus heard Mrs. Say bolt coming. He ran out of the door as fast as he could, leaving the astonished Mrs. Saybolt standing in the hall shouting "Tiger!"

    "Wanted to hear the player," Rufus called back as he ran down the street.
    He tore home. He ran around to the backyard and crawled into the little chicken coop again to think about the invisible piano player. A man like that might be able to get through keyholes.
    "Criminenty!" exclaimed Rufus aloud, at this thought.
    Speaking out loud revealed his whereabouts to Joey, who had come to look for him.
    "Hey, Rufe," he said, "get your wagon. Just saw Mrs. Saybolt and she said we could have that big box that her new player piano came in."
    "She did!" said Rufus. And he added, "Did she say we could have him, too?"
    Through Rufus's mind flashed the vision of life in the Moffats' house if they had an invisible person there, too. Where would he sleep? There were no extra beds. Just enough beds. He could sleep on the yellow couch maybe. On the other hand he might not need a bed at all. He could sleep in the air.
    A chap like that in the house would not be an altogether pleasant addition to the family. For instance, he could eat all the dinner off their plates and they wouldn't even see him doing it. If he ate as fast as he played the piano, there would be nothing left for the Moffats. Since he couldn't be felt, they couldn't grab hold of his wrist and stop him. Mama would have to divide the butter into six parts, and even at that how could they explain to him that in this house it was share and share alike? So Rufus was really quite relieved when Joe answered absentmindedly:
    "Who? Said we could have the box, that's all. Good box."
    "Yeah," said Rufus, crawling out of the chicken coop. "That might be where he sleeps though, and where's he gonna sleep if we take that away?"
    "Who sleeps in that box?" asked Joe in disgust. "Nobody'd want to sleep in that old box."
    Now this was just the kind of a box that Rufus felt he would really like to sleep in himself. He could fix it up and have it for his own house. So he was really glad to know that the invisible piano player did not sleep in it. He probably did sleep inside the piano with the machinery after all. Rufus got his express wagon and he and Joey went down Pleasant Street to Mrs. Saybolt's. While they were hoisting the big wooden crate sideways onto Rufus's wagon and trying to balance it