"Prudy Parlin, why didn't you come up here before?" was the sudden response. "I called you and called you.--Where'd you put my clo'es?" "Why, Dotty, dear, I didn't know you were in the house; and I never touched your clothes." "Yes, you did. I can't find the key. I'm going to freeze. You don't care. You never brought me a speck of pudding. I'm sick, and going to have the sore throat. I wouldn't eat it now if the mayor was right in this room--so there!" Nothing could exceed the dreariness of Dotty's tone. Susy, though by no means unfeeling, could scarcely refrain from laughing at the child's unreasonableness; but Prudy, who "was exceeding wise" in reading the heart, knew that Dotty's anger was not very real; that it was partly assumed to hide her wretchedness. Therefore patient Prudy resolved to bear with the sharp words, believing Dotty would be pleasant by and by, when she felt comfortable. After some delay in hunting, she and Susy dressed the child in fresh clothes. Then Dotty consented to eat a little dinner, and go into her grandma Read's room, to sit on the lounge. "This little girl doesn't look well," said grandma Read, the first moment; "her cheeks are altogether too red. Where has thee been to-day, Alice?" "Been down to the beach, picking shells, grandma," replied Dotty, looking hard at the carpet. "O, where are the shells?" said Prudy. "I'm sure I don't know; I didn't find any. I didn't come back the same way I went," replied Dotty, twirling her favorite lock of hair over her finger. "Didn't come back the same way?" "No, I went wherrying." "Wherrying?" repeated Prudy. "Yes, that's what I said." "Prudence, what does thee suppose the child means?" said grandma Read, taking off her spectacles, and fixing her kind eyes steadily upon Dotty Dimple. "Wherrying in a wherry," answered Dotty, dryly. "Does thee mean in a boat?" "Why no, grandma. It looks like a boat, but it isn't; it's a wherry." "Who allowed thee to go on the water?" "Nobody." "Did thee think thee was doing right?" "No'm." "Who rowed the boat?" "Some boys--two--and Johnny, grandma." "Hasn't thy mother told thee not to go on the water?" "She said I mus'n't sail, and I never. I _wherried_." "Why, Dotty Parlin," said Prudy, "you'll scare me so I'll never get my breath again! You didn't go off on that bay with some boys?" "Yes, I did," replied Dotty, trying to look defiant. "_You_ wouldn't have dared to, Prudy." "Thee may get in my lap, Alice, and tell me all about it," said grandma Read, laying down her knitting-work. Dotty curled herself into a little heap in her grandmother's arms. "My head aches," said she, "and I love to lay it against your soft _kerjif_." "Well, dear, so thee may. Now, tell me what made thee go on the water?"