"If your father would dress me better, I should be very glad of it,"
said Joe. "If I am a ragamuffin, it is his fault."

"I'll report that to him," said Oscar maliciously.

"I wish you would. It would save me the trouble of asking him for
better clothes."

"Suppose we go on," said Annie Raymond.

"Certainly," said Joe politely.

And they walked on, leaving Oscar discomfited and mortified.

"What a fool Annie Raymond makes of herself" he muttered. "I should
think she'd be ashamed to go round with Joe Mason."

Oscar would have liked to despise Annie Raymond, but it was out of
his power. She was undoubtedly the belle of the school, and he would
have been proud to receive as much notice from her as she freely
accorded to Joe. But the young lady had a mind and a will of her
own, and she had seen too much to dislike in Oscar to regard him with
favor, even if he were the son of a rich man, while she had the good
sense and discrimination to see that Joe, despite his ragged garb,
possessed sterling good qualities.

When Oscar got home he sought his father.

"Father," said he, "I heard Joe complaining to Annie Raymond that you