ed until I am tired. You don't pay a bit of attention,
so I must punish you some other way. Next time I shall send you to bed.
Perhaps I better do that today."

"Oh, Gail," sobbed miserable Peace, "I didn't mean to be bad, truly! I
thought Faith would like some new way to dec'rate her cakes. I--please
don't send us to bed! I'm awful sorry! Allee isn't to blame! She tried
to make me leave it alone, didn't you, Babe?"

"Yes," hiccoughed the equally penitent, but loyal young sinner, "and
then I helped dig up the rivers and pile on the mountains!"

Gail's face relaxed a little; a great tenderness for these little orphan
sisters swept through her heart, and she felt herself relenting. Then
Faith's tragic despair rose before her inner vision again, and she
hardened her heart, drew out some stout cord from the cupboard drawer,
and tied the humiliated duet into their rickety, worn-out old rockers,
leaving them to their unhappy thoughts while she went back to her work
upstairs.

For a long time, it seemed to them, they sat jogging back and forth in
the warm kitchen, mournfully dabbing their eyes and sniffing tearfully.
Then Peace sat up, drew a deep, quivering breath, and said decisively,
"I'm going to take that cake over to Mrs. Grinnell's--"

"Gail said we had to stay here until noon," quavered Allee.

"She said we had to sit in these _chairs_ till then," Peace corrected.

"Well, that's the same thing. How can you go over to Mrs. Grinnell's and
stay in your chair?"

"Easy enough. I'll take it along. Gail didn't tie our hands."

Allee gasped. "But you can't carry the cake, too!"

"I'll put the cake in the big egg basket and you'll take hold on one
handle and I the other. That will leave us each a free hand to hold onto
our chairs with."

"Oh!"

"Will you do it?"

"Course."

With some difficulty they rose to their feet, made their way into the
pantry once more and found the market basket; but it was another task to
get the heavy cake into it, and they were almost in despair, when
Peace's fertile mind found a solution to the problem.

"It's 'cause my chair keeps slipping that I can't do it," she said,
after several vain attempts to lift the cake. "I have only one hand to
pick this heavy thing up with. Stick this piece of string through the
back of my chair, Allee, and I'll tie it to the arms in front. There,
that makes straps and holds the chair better. It cuts into your
shoulders, though, doesn't it? Never min