"Of course they did, Mis' Mayberry!" exclaimed their mother
relentlessly. "It was two jars of cherry preserves that Prissy put
up and clean forgot to seed 'fore she biled 'em, and the children
done took and et 'em on the sly. Now they're going to suffer for
it."

"We all spitted the seeds out, and we was so hungry, too!" Eliza
took courage to sob from Miss Wingate's skirt. Bud managed to echo
her statement, while Susie and the two little boys gave confirmation
from their wide-open, terror-stricken eyes.

"Well, now, maybe they did, Mis' Pike," said Mother, coming near to
argue the question. Her hand rested sustainingly on one of the brave
young Bud's knees which jutted out from the fence.

"Can't trust 'em, Mis' Mayberry, fer if they'll steal they'll lie,"
said Mrs. Pike in a voice tinged with the deepest melancholy for the
fallen estate of her family. "They'll have to suffer for both sins
whether they did or didn't," and again the bottle was poised.

"Now hold on, Mis' Pike," again exclaimed Mother Mayberry as her
face illumined with a bright smile. "If they throwed away the cherry
pits they must be where they throwed 'em and they can go find 'em to
prove they character. They ain't nothing fairer than that. Where did
you eat the preserves, children?" she asked, but there was a wild
rush around the corner of the house before her question was
answered.

"Now," exclaimed the astonished mother, "I never thought of that and