"Yes, she came to see if Henry was any better, and that let the cat out of the bag. They've got to be 'tended to," replied Mrs. Stout. "Tended to" in the Stout family meant something painful. The boys looked at each other in dismay, and then at their parents. "I ain't got time now," said Peter, "but in the mornin'--" With that terrible, unspoken threat on his lips Peter put on his hat, and went back to the store. Mrs. Stout began clearing the table, and the boys silently filed out of the house and sat down on the front door-steps to talk it over. "You've got to give me back that five cents I give you for sayin' I was sick, Paul," said Henry, "and you too, Wendell." "I guess not," replied Paul and Wendell, quickly. "I got found out, didn't I?" "We said you was sick, didn't we?" "I'm goin' to get a lickin', ain't I?" "We're goin' to get one, too, ain't we?" "I wouldn't lie for money." "No; you'd get somebody to lie for you," said Wendell, scornfully. "Yer little brothers," added Paul. "I wouldn't steal, anyway," retorted Henry. For a moment they were silent. "Hello, fellers," yelled a boy from the street. "Hello, Tom," replied the trio. "Don't make any noise," cautioned Henry as Tommy Tweedie came up to the steps. "Why?" he asked as he sat down. "I got caught," said Henry. Tommy whistled his surprise. "Did the kids (meaning Paul and Wendell) tell?" he asked. "Nope; Miss Wallace come to see how sick I was." "What'd your father say?" snickered Tom. "Said he'd see us in the mornin'. Say, Tom, what's this club for that your ma and mine are gettin' up?" "I dunno," replied Tommy, "only I heard pop say we was goin' to have a tablet, kind of a tombstone, you know, in the yard that told on it when the club was foundered or somethin' like that; and this mornin' he told Dora that he wished the tablet was goin' to be put up right away with the date the club died on it, too." "Are they goin' to play ball?" asked Wendell. "Women don't play ball," said Paul. "My mother says," replied Tom, "that women do everything nowadays." "Boys," said Mrs. Stout, sternly, from the doorway. The three guilty ones filed solemnly into the house, and Tommy Tweedie slipped away into the darkness. Chapter VI Barbara and Will "GOOD luck is with me sometimes, Barbara," said Will, as they turned into the street from Mrs. Stout's yard. "Is that a new name for me?" asked Barbara. "No; but it would be a good one. I meant that I was fortunate in meeting you; chance meetings, you know, are often best." "Yes," replied Barbara, and then added, "if the chance is genuine." He had met her so often of late by chance, that now, as he was bold enough to speak of it, for a moment she doubted his sincerity.