"I--bought it, pop."

"Bought? Where d'you get the money!"

Tillie did not like the lies she had to tell, but she knew she had
already perjured her soul beyond redemption and one lie more or
less could not make matters worse.

"I found it in the road."

"How much did you find?"

"Fi' cents."

"You hadn't ought to spent it without astin' me dare you. Now I'm
goin' to learn you once! Set up."

Tillie obeyed, and the strap fell across her shoulders. Her
outcries awakened the household and started the youngest little
sister, in her fright and sympathy with Tillie, to a high-pitched
wailing. The rest of them took the incident phlegmatically, the
only novelty about it being the strange hour of its happening.

But the hardest part of her punishment was to follow.

"Now this here book goes in the fire!" her father announced when
at last his hand was stayed. "And any more that comes home goes
after it in the stove, I'll see if you 'll mind your pop or not!"