"You can't bully ME that way!" she said. "I got home too late to
dress, and I'm going to a dance. 'Scuse!"

And she began her dancing on the spot, pirouetting herself
swiftly out of the room, and was immediately heard running up the
stairs.

"Penrod!" Mr. Schofield shouted. "Sit down! How many times am I
going to tell you? What IS the matter with you to-night?"

"I GOT to go," Penrod gasped. "I got to tell Margaret sumpthing."

"What have you 'got' to tell her?"

"It's--it's sumpthing I forgot to tell her."

"Well, it will keep till she comes downstairs," Mr. Schofield
said grimly. "You sit down till this meal is finished."

Penrod was becoming frantic.

"I got to tell her--it's sumpthing Sam's mother told me to tell
her," he babbled. "Didn't she, Sam? You heard her tell me to tell
her; didn't you, Sam?"

Sam offered prompt corroboration.

"Yes, sir; she did. She said for us both to tell her. I better
go, too, I guess, because she said--"