ll, and therefore made no answer. The demand was then made of Tom, but
in a much softer tone of voice:--

"Tell me, Tom," his mother asked.

"I'll not tell you. Rita and Dic may, but I'll not. I'm no tell-tale."
No, not he!

The Chief Justice turned upon Rita, looked sternly over her glasses, and
again insisted:--

"What have you been doing, girl? Tell me at once. I command you by the
duty you owe your mother."

"I can't tell you, mother. Please don't ask," replied Rita, hanging her
head.

"You can tell me, and you shall," cried the fond mother.

"I can't tell you, mother, and I won't. Please don't ask."

"Do my ears deceive me? You refuse to obey your parents? 'Obey thy
father and thy mother that thy days may be long'--"

Tom interrupted her: "Oh, mother, for goodness' sake, quit firing that
quotation at Rita. I'm sick of it. If it's true, I ought to have died
long ago. I don't mind you. Never did. Never will."

"Yes, you do, Tom," answered his mother, meekly. "And this disobedient
girl shall mind me, too." Rita had never in all her life disobeyed a
command from either father or mother. She was obedient from habit and
inclination, and in her guileless, affectionate heart believed that a
terrific natural cataclysm of some sort would surely occur should she
even think of disobeying.

With ostentatious deliberation Mrs. Bays folded her knitting and placed
it on the floor beside her; took off her spectacles, put them in the
case, and put the case in her pocket. Rita knew her mother was clearing
the decks for action and that Justice was coldly arranging to have its
own. So great was the girl's love and fear for this hard woman that she
trembled as if in peril.

"Now, Margarita Fisher Bays," the Chief Justice began, glaring at the
trembling girl. When on the bench she addressed her daughter by her full
name in long-drawn syllables, and Rita's full name upon her mother's
lips meant trouble. But at the moment Mrs. Bays began her address from
the bench Billy Little came around the corner of the house and stopped
in front of the porch.

Tom said, "Hello, Billy Little," Mr. Bays said, "Howdy," and Mrs. Bays
said majestically: "Good evening, Mr. Little. You have come just in time
to see the ungratefullest creature the world can produce--a disobedient
daughter."

"I can't believe that you have one," smiled Billy.

Rita's eyes flashed a look of gratitude upon her friend. Dic might not
be able to understand the la