t it crawling in the
window into the Bullfinch coalbin, didn't you?"

"I have a mineral collection that has a piece of coal in it. Some of
the black must have rubbed off on me. That must have been it. I'm a
very dirty boy. Every speck of dirt sticks to me. Mummy said so. She
says I'm as dirty as a pig. Is a pig dirtier than a skunk, Jerry?"

Jerry said he thought that skunks weren't usually dirty.

"Remember that time we were out in the car and Daddy said he smelled
skunk? Phew! It was an awful smell."

"Andy," called his mother from the foot of the stairs. "You get to
bed. Double quick now."

"Jerry won't let me."

"Stop bothering your little brother, Jerry. Come on down. I'm sure you
have homework to do."

Andy slid out of Jerry's hold and ran down the hall. "You can't catch
me," he yelled.

Jerry didn't try. Sometimes Andy was more slippery than an eel, he
thought dolefully. Getting him to confess that he had been in the
Bullfinch house would have to wait till tomorrow.

The next morning Jerry woke up feeling heavy in spirit. He still had
the secret of the charge account on his mind and now there was the
added weight of Mr. Bullfinch's disappointment in him. Jerry had not
realized how much he had valued Mr. Bullfinch's approval until he had
lost it.

"I'll just have to make Andy tell," thought Jerry, as he dressed in a
hurry after his mother had called him twice.

When Jerry came downstairs, his father was just leaving for work.
Jerry heard the front door close. Cathy was alone in the dining room
eating her cereal. She looked so cheerful Jerry could hardly stand it.

"Don't sit down, you might hurt your head," she greeted him.
Ridiculous remarks were popular with the sixth grade right now and she
was trying out one she had heard recently.

"Think that's funny? It stinks."

"I was just trying to be pleasant. Mummy especially asked me to try to
be pleasant to you even when you were aggravating. And you certainly
_are_ aggravating."

"Shut up!"

"Well, you needn't take my head off."

"You might be better-looking if I could."

"Jerry! Cathy!" Mrs. Martin came in from the kitchen with a platter of
scrambled eggs and bacon. "I'm glad your father left before he had to
hear such bickering. He wouldn't stand for it, and neither will I.
Either be civil to each other or don't speak."

"Suits me," said Jerry. "I'll be tickled to death if Cathy stops
ya-ka-ta-yaking."

"He's just awful." Cathy's blue e