There never was a good time to ask Deacon Baxter a favor,
therefore this moment would serve as well as any other, so,
approaching him near enough to be heard through the rubbing and
splashing, but no nearer than was necessary Patty said:--

"Father, can I go up to Ellen Wilson's this afternoon and stay to
tea? I won't start till I've done a good day's work and I'll come
home early. "

"What do you want to go gallivantin' to the neighbors for? I
never saw anything like the girls nowadays; highty-tighty,
flauntin', traipsin', triflin' trollops, ev'ry one of 'em, that's
what they are, and Ellen Wilson's one of the triflin'est.

You're old enough now to stay to home where you belong and make
an effort to earn your board and clothes, which you can't, even
if you try."

Spunk, real, Simon-pure spunk, started some-where in Patty and
coursed through her blood like wine.

"If a girl's old enough to stay at home and work, I should think
she was old enough to go out and play once in a while." Patty was
still too timid to make this remark more than a courteous
suggestion, so far as its tone was concerned.

"Don't answer me back; you're full of new tricks, and you've got
to stop 'em, right where you are, or there'll be trouble. You
were whistlin' just now up in the barn chamber; that's one of the