huge red slit in the black face framed two rows of teeth no less white
than the eyes. Keith guessed that the dark visitor from the chimney was
smiling at him in a fashion that seemed to bode no harm.

In another minute the man was gone, and Keith hurried back to the
living-room to ask a question of his mother:

"Could he really take me?"

"Not unless we gave him leave," she replied. "But sometimes, when little
boys are very, _very_ bad, their parents turn them over to the sweep as
apprentices, because they are not good for anything else."

Keith thought long and hard.

"I ain't bad," he declared at last.

"Not exactly," his mother remarked diplomatically "But you could be a
great deal better. What were you doing in the kitchen just now? I have
told you not to run out there all the time. Lena does not like you to
get in her way, you know."

"But Granny is there," Keith protested.

"Yes, of course, and you must be nice to her, but...."

As his mother did not go on, Keith asked: "Why does Granny always stay
in the kitchen?"

"Because she wants to," his mother answered.