ed upon a terrible gesture from
Penrod. Verman buried his mouth as deeply as possible in a ragged
sleeve, and confined his demonstrations to a heaving of the stomach and
diaphragm.

Penrod led the way into the dainty room of his nineteen-year-old sister,
Margaret, and closed the door.

"There," he said, in a low and husky voice, "I expect you'll see what
I'm goin' to do now!"

"Well, what?" the skeptical Sam asked. "If we stay here very long your
mother'll come and send us downstairs. What's the good of--"

"WAIT, can't you?" Penrod wailed, in a whisper. "My goodness!" And going
to an inner door, he threw it open, disclosing a clothes-closet hung
with pretty garments of many kinds, while upon its floor were two rows
of shoes and slippers of great variety and charm.

A significant thing is to be remarked concerning the door of this
somewhat intimate treasury: there was no knob or latch upon the inner
side, so that, when the door was closed, it could be opened only from
the outside.

"There!" said Penrod. "You get in there, Verman, and I'll bet they won't
get to touch you back out o' bein' our pris'ner very soon, NOW! Oh, I
guess not!"

"Pshaw!" said Sam. "Is that all you were goin' to do? Why, your
mother'll come and make him get out the first--"

"No, she won't. She and Margaret have gone to my aunt's in the country,
and aren't goin' to be back till dark. And even if he made a lot o'
noise, it's kind of hard to hear anything from in there, anyway, when
the door's shut. Besides, he's got to keep quiet--that's the rule,
Verman. You're a pris'ner, and it's the rule you can't holler or
nothin'. You unnerstand that, Verman?"

"Aw wi," said Verman.

"Then go on in there. Hurry!"

The obedient Verman marched into the closet and sat down among the shoes
and slippers, where he presented an interesting effect of contrast. He
was still subject to hilarity--though endeavouring to suppress it by
means of a patent-leather slipper--when Penrod closed the door.

"There!" said Penrod, leading the way from the room. "I guess NOW you
see!"

Sam said nothing, and they came out to the open air and reached their
retreat in the Williams' yard again, without his having acknowledged
Penrod's service to their mutual cause.

"I thought of that just as easy!" Penrod remarked, probably prompted
to this odious bit of complacency by Sam's withholding the praise that
might naturally have been expected. And he was moved to add, "I gu