"That’s right," Peggy encouraged him. "What was it Skinny said?" Another period of squirming, as if the small figure were a corkscrew set to remove some obstruction to the free flow of speech, and as if a cork had really popped out, the explanation bubbled forth at last. "Skinny said you was gettin’ money for the empty stockin’ kids, an’ so--" "And so you brought it back," exclaimed Peggy, including the entire company in her triumphant glance. "Yes, Miss. I uster go to them shows myself," said the boy with an air suggesting that his youth was at least a score of years behind him. "They’s all right, they is." There was a certain honesty about the boy’s manner, in spite of the transgression in which he had been detected, and this, coupled with the undeniable fact that he was returning the ice cream freezer when captured, resulted in a reversal of public sentiment. Little kindly murmurs passed from one to another, and even Graham did not have the heart to make further references to the police. "Well, youngster," he said gruffly, "guess you’d better skip. And just remember that you won’t get off so easy the next time." The boy’s instantaneous acceptance of the permission had carried him as far as the next room when he was checked by Peggy. "Wait a minute," she cried, "I’ve got something for you." She met Graham’s air of disapproving inquiry with a suggestion of defiance. "I’m going to give him a little ice cream," she explained. "Well, I like that!" Graham was plainly indignant. "He’s lucky not to be in the lock-up, and here you are petting and pampering him. That’s just like a girl. You know perfectly," he scolded, as Peggy dished out the ice cream with a liberal hand, "that people who do things of that sort ought to be made to smart for it." "I don’t know," said Peggy over her shoulder. "Nobody made you smart when you Sophomores stole the ice cream at the Freshman banquet." "O, that!" exclaimed Graham, reddening. "That was different." "Yes," Peggy acknowledged generously, "It was different. As far as I know, you never took it back." And with this parting shot she carried the well-filled saucer to the boy waiting at the kitchen door. The rapidity with which the ice cream disappeared was startling, to say the least. As a half-starved dog bolts his rations of raw meat so Peggy’s protégé gulped down pink wedges of the unyielding dainty in a manner suggesting that his digestive apparatus must be of a peculiar and improved pattern. When the saucer was scraped clean he rolled his eyes in Peggy’s direction in a manner which might have been intended to indicate gratitude, or which might be preliminary to a seizure of some kind. [Illustration: "THE RAPIDITY WITH WHICH THE ICE CREAM DISAPPEARED WAS STARTLING, TO SAY THE LEAST.] "Do you feel all right?" asked Peggy in alarm. "You bet," the hoarse voice assured her, adding, as an afterthought, "That stuff’s out of sight."