"You shouldn't make fun of things like that," she said rebukingly.

Arthur chortled.

"Gee, Missy, but you're sure a scream when you get pious!" Then he
sobered and, casually--a little too casually, enquired: "Say, I
s'pose you're going again to-night?"

Missy regretfully shook her head. "No, I've got a. sore throat." She
didn't deem it necessary to say anything about parental objections.
Arthur looked regretful, too.

"Say, that's too bad. I was thinking, maybe--"

He shuffled from one foot to the other in a way that to Missy
clearly finished his speech's hiatus: He'd been contemplating taking
HER home to-night instead of that frivolous Genevieve Hicks! What a
shame! To lose the chance to be a really good influence--for surely
getting Arthur to church again, even though for the main purpose of
seeing her home, was better than for him not to go to church at all.
It is excusable to sort of inveigle a sinner into righteous paths.
What a shame she couldn't grasp at this chance for service! But she
oughtn't to let go of it altogether; oughtn't to just abandon him,
as it were, to his fate. She puckered her brows meditatively.

"I'm not going to church, but--"

She paused, thinking hard. Arthur waited.

An inspiration came to her. "Anyway, I have to go to the library to-