"Why, if I really had twenty dollars, of course I would treat you all," admitted Carolyn May, with an expansive smile. "Wouldn't it be nice? We could all have ice-cream cones. I'd just love to! But of course that money the man gave me for my friend doesn't belong to me." "Stingy! Stingy!" was the unbelieving chorus. For a moment Carolyn May almost "clouded up." She was hurt as well as angered. Finally indignation over-rode the smart of the attack. "Why, Johnny O'Harrity, you are a good-for-nothing! I told you that money was given to me for a friend. It never belonged to me at all." Then she went on to the clamorous urchins surrounding her and Prince: "I'd like to treat you, but I can't--and that's just all there is to it. But I shouldn't s'pose you'd _expect_ such a thing. Why! I'm not even acquainted with some of you," and she looked sternly and directly at the red-haired girl. With Prince tugging at his leash she walked through the disappointed crowd. The red-haired girl made a face at her, but nobody dared touch Carolyn May when Prince was with her. She held her head very high and her sweet eyes flashed. She would not show them how bad she felt. And she did feel bad, for the far-flung cry of "Stingy!" hurt her generous little soul. Carolyn May was learning a lesson--the lesson of the evanescence of popularity. "That mean, _mean_ Johnny O'Harrity!" she told Prince. "Just as his grandma says, he is a 'good-for-nothing.' I don't believe I shall give him a single, solitary treat ever again, so there!" Yet half an hour later, when she returned with Prince's meat scraps in a paper and a bag of candy for which she had expended her own five cents, the wobegone picture of the lame boy huddled down on the apartment house steps, smote the little girl to the quick. Misled by Johnny's tale of treasure, the other children had deserted the janitor's boy. Because he wore a brace on his foot and could only hobble around, the others did not care much to play with Johnny. He had to use his wits to gain their companionship even for a little while. His tale of Carolyn May's wealth had brought him a certain publicity for a brief time. Now he was marooned, like a shipwrecked sailor, on the apartment house steps. He turned his head away as the little girl and her dog came blithely along the walk. Carolyn May's sunny nature had asserted itself again. The cloud had passed. She saw that Johnny had been crying. There was a mark on his face, too, where somebody had slapped him. Carolyn May was sure it had been that red-haired girl! No boy wishes to be openly sympathized with when he has been unmanly enough to weep--and pitied by a girl least of all. Johnny O'Harrity looked determinedly away as Carolyn May mounted the steps. The little girl hesitated above him, looking down on his huddled figure. Then, after releasing the eager Prince, who at once darted into the vestibule, she opened the paper bag and transferred some of the candy to her pocket.