ldness odd when coming from her. "Grandpa isn't the only person
in this flat to be considered," she returned.

"Jus' the same"--Big Tom shook a finger in her face--"he's the _first_
one that's goin' t' be considered!"

"Johnnie and I have _our_ rights!" she cried.

As she spoke his name, Johnnie's heart leaped so that it choked
him--with gratitude, and love, and admiration.

"Never mind y'r rights!" the longshoreman counseled. "I begin t' see
through you! Y're a little sneak, that's what y' are! Look at the crazy
way y're actin', and I thought y' was a quiet girl! Y' been pretty cute
about hidin' what y're up to!"

"Hiding!" she answered, resentful. "What do I have to hide from _you_?
What I do is none of _your_ business! I'm not a relation of yours! and
I'm seventeen! And from now on----"

"Oh, drop that!" interrupted Barber. "Y' waste y'r breath!" Then with
another shake of the finger, "What I want t' know--and the truth, mind
y'!--is how long has this been goin' on?" He leaned on the table to
peer into her eyes.

Going on? Johnnie's look darted from one to the other. Had Cis been
staying away from the factory? Had she been taking some of her earnings
to see a moving-picture? or----

"I don't have to tell you!" Cis declared.

"I'm the man that feeds y'!" Barber reminded. "Jus' remember _that_!"

"You've taken my earnings," she returned. "You've taken every cent I've
ever got for my work! And don't you forget _that_!"

"Ev'ry girl brings home her wages," answered the longshoreman. "And
don't y' forgit that I fed y' many a year before y' was _able_ t'
work----"

"While my mother was living, she earned my food!" Cis cried. "And _I've_
worked, just as Johnnie has, ever since I was a baby!"

"Have y'? Bosh! Y' been a big expense t' me, that's what y' been, for
all these past ten years! And now, jus' when y're old enough t' begin
payin' me back a little, here y' go t' actin' up! Well, you was left in
my hands. I'm only stepfather to y'. All right. But I'm goin' t' see
that y' behave y'rself."

"You've got nothing to say about me!" she persisted.

"No? I'll show y'! But what I want t' know now is, how many times have
you met this dude at the noon hour?"

Then Johnnie understood what had happened.

"Ha-a-a-a!" Cis threw back her head with a taunting laugh. "Dude! So
he's a dude, is he? But I notice, _big_ as you are, that you didn't let
Mr. Perkins know you'd been watching us! You didn't come up to the be