me of it,
no matter if the house went and fell down? I s'pose they think I put
mucilage and soap in my own shoes."
Marjorie delayed at the gate until some eagerly talking little girls had
passed out. The name "Penrod Schofield" was thick and scandalous among
them.
"Well," said Marjorie, "_I_ wouldn't care, Penrod. 'Course, about soap
and mucilage in YOUR shoes, anybody'd know some other boy must of put
'em there to get even for what you put in his."
Penrod gasped.
"But I DIDN'T!" he cried. "I didn't do ANYTHING! That ole Miss Rennsdale
can say what she wants to, I didn't do--"
"Well, anyway, Penrod," said Marjorie, softly, "they can't ever PROVE it
was you."
He felt himself suffocating in a coil against which no struggle availed.
"But I never DID it!" he wailed, helplessly. "I never did anything at
all!"
She leaned toward him a little, and the lights from her waiting carriage
illumined her dimly, but enough for him to see that her look was fond
and proud, yet almost awed.
"Anyway, Penrod," she whispered, "_I_ don't believe there's any other
boy in the whole world could of done HALF as much!"
And with that, she left him, and ran out to the carriage.
But Penrod remained by the gate to wait for Sam, and the burden of his
sorrows was beginning to lift. In fact, he felt a great deal better, in
spite of his having just discovered why Marjorie loved him.
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