her had never done.

"I been to school," boasted Mickey.

The children were anxious to have him stay to lunch with them and
Louise, who had heard his voice and who came downstairs to see him,
also invited him to stay. But he was too shy, and shuffled off just as
Nellie Yarrow bounded up the front steps.

"Wasn't that Mickey Gaffney?" she asked curiously. "I shouldn't think
you'd want to play with him. His folks are awful poor, and, besides,
his father was arrested last year."

"Mickey isn't to blame for that," retorted Grace quickly. "Don't be a
snob, Nellie; Brother and Sister had a good time playing with that
little red-headed boy."

"But hardly any of the children play with him," persisted Nellie, who
of course went to the public school. "You see last term Mickey was in
my room, and he only came till about the middle of October--maybe it
was November. Anyway, soon as it got cold he stopped coming.

"The teacher thought he was playing hooky, and she told Mr. Alexander,
the principal. And he found out that the reason Mickey didn't come to
school was 'cause his father didn't send him."

"Why didn't his father send him?" asked Sister.

"He wouldn't work, and Mickey didn't have any shoes to wear," explained
Nellie. "Mr. Alexander got somebody to give Mickey a pair of shoes, but
he wouldn't pay any attention to his lessons, and I know he wasn't
promoted. I suppose he'll be in the first grade again this year."

Brother and Sister thought a good deal about Mickey after Nellie had
gone home. They wondered if he wanted to go to school and whether he
wished the summer would hurry so the new term might open.

"He liked to play school, so I guess he likes to go, really," argued
Sister. "Playing is different," said Brother wisely. "He didn't have
any shoes on this morning, did he?"

"No, that's so," Sister recalled. "And his clothes were all torn and
dirty; maybe he hasn't any new suit to wear the first day."

All the Morrison children had always started school in new suits or
dresses, and Mother Morrison had promised Brother a new sailor suit and
Sister a gingham frock when they started off in September.

"Miss Putnam would say he 'scuffled,'" giggled Sister, remembering that
was what Miss Putnam thought all children did with their feet.

"I wonder who really did put the tar on her porch?" murmured Brother.
"She'll always think we did it, unless someone tells her something
else."

CHAPTER XIX

A VERY SIC