reassuringly to those of the terrified little girls who were able to
tear themselves away. This latter aunt Rennsdale marked a dripping
figure that came unobtrusively, and yet in a self-contained and
gentlemanly manner, down the stairs.

"Carlie Chitten!" she cried. "You poor dear child, you're soaking! To
think those outrageous little fiends wouldn't even spare YOU!" As she
spoke, another departing male guest came from behind Carlie and placed
in her hand a snakelike article--a thing that Miss Lowe seized and
concealed with one sweeping gesture.

"It's some false hair somebody must of put in my overcoat pocket," said
Roderick Magsworth Bitts. "Well, 'g-night. Thank you for a very nice
time."

"Good-night, Miss Rennsdale," said Master Chitten demurely. "Thank you
for a--"

But Miss Rennsdale detained him. "Carrie," she said earnestly, "you're
a dear boy, and I know you'll tell me something. It was all Penrod
Schofield, wasn't it?"

"You mean he left the--"

"I mean," she said, in a low tone, not altogether devoid of ferocity. "I
mean it was Penrod who left the faucets running, and Penrod who tied the
boys' shoes together, and filled some of them with soap and mucilage,
and put Miss Lowe's hair in Roddy Bitts's overcoat. No; look me in the
eye, Carlie! They were all shouting that silly thing he started. Didn't
he do it?"

Carlie cast down thoughtful eyes. "I wouldn't like to tell, Miss
Rennsdale," he said. "I guess I better be going or I'll catch cold.
Thank you for a very nice time."

"There!" said Miss Rennsdale vehemently, as Carlie went on his way.
"What did I tell you? Carlie Chitten's too manly to say it, but I just
KNOW it was that terrible Penrod Schofield."

Behind her, a low voice, unheard by all except the person to whom it
spoke, repeated a part of this speech: "What did I tell you?"

This voice belonged to one Penrod Schofield.

Penrod and Marjorie had descended by another stairway, and he now
considered it wiser to pass to the rear of the little party at the foot
of the stairs. As he was still in his pumps, his choked shoes occupying
his overcoat pockets, he experienced no difficulty in reaching the front
door, and getting out of it unobserved, although the noise upstairs was
greatly abated. Marjorie, however, made her curtseys and farewells in a
creditable manner.

"There!" Penrod said again, when she rejoined him in the darkness
outside. "What did I tell you? Didn't I say I'd get the bla