e did not care what Mrs. Scrimp might do or say in regard to
the matter, ran into the hall, and returned almost instantly with hat and
sacque.

"Come, Max," she said, "we'd better be off before she gets back. Gracie,
you won't mind being left alone for just a little bit? Ann's in the
kitchen, you know."

"I wish I could go too!" sighed Gracie. "I wish I could run about and have
good times like you and Max!"

"Maybe you will, some o' these days. Good-by, little one," said Max,
giving a parting pat to the little white cheek.

"Good-by," cried Lulu from the doorway; "don't fret, because maybe I'll
find something pretty to bring you when I come back."

She took a small basket from the table in the hall, Max shouldered his
fishing-rod, which he had left there behind the front door, and they went
out together.

CHAPTER XI.

"Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted,
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint."
--_Shaks._

The children walked very fast, glancing this way and that till satisfied
that there was no longer any danger of encountering Mrs. Scrimp, then
their pace slackened a little and they breathed more freely.

"Won't she be mad because you came without asking her, Lu?" queried Max.

"I s'pose so."

"What'll she do about it?"

"Scold, scold, scold! and threaten to make me fast; but she knows she
can't do that. I always manage to get something to eat. I've found a key
that fits the pantry door; so I just help myself. She doesn't know about
the key and wonders how it happens; thinks she forgot to lock it."

"But, Lulu, you wouldn't steal!"

"'Taint stealing to take what papa pays for! Max, you're too stupid!"
cried Lulu indignantly.

Max gave a long, low whistle. "Fact, Lu! that's so! our father does pay
for more than we can possibly eat, and expects us to have all we want."

"Do you get enough, Max?"

"Yes; and right good too. Mrs. Fox is real good and kind; but he's just
awful! I tell you, Lu, if I don't thrash him within an inch of his life
when I grow to be a man, it'll be queer."

"Tell me about him! what is it he does to you?"

"Well, in the first place, he pretends to be very good and pious; he
preaches and prays and talks to me as if I were the greatest sinner in the
world, while all the time he's ten times worse himself and the biggest
kind of a hypocrite. He tells me it's very wicked when I get angry at his
hateful treatm