er!
Now take that thing out of the dining-room and throw it in the ash-can!
Where did you get it?"

"Where did I get what, papa?" asked Penrod meekly, depositing the
accordion in the hall just outside the dining-room door.

"That da--that third-hand concertina."

"It's a 'cordian," said Penrod, taking his place at the table, and
noticing that both Margaret and Mr. Robert Williams (who happened to be
a guest) were growing red.

"I don't care what you call it," said Mr. Schofield irritably. "I want
to know where you got it."

Penrod's eyes met Margaret's: hers had a strained expression.

She very slightly shook her head. Penrod sent Mr. Williams a grateful
look, and might have been startled if he could have seen himself in a
mirror at that moment; for he regarded Mitchy-Mitch with concealed but
vigorous aversion and the resemblance would have horrified him.

"A man gave it to me," he answered gently, and was rewarded by the
visibly regained ease of his patron's manner, while Margaret leaned back
in her chair and looked at her brother with real devotion.

"I should think he'd have been glad to," said Mr. Schofield. "Who was
he?"

"Sir?" In spite of the candy which he had consumed in company with
Marjorie and Mitchy-Mitch, Penrod had begun to eat lobster croquettes
earnestly.

"Who WAS he?"

"Who do you mean, papa?"

"The man that gave you that ghastly Thing!"

"Yessir. A man gave it to me."

"I say, Who WAS he?" shouted Mr. Schofield.

"Well, I was just walking along, and the man came up to me--it was right
down in front of Colgate's, where most of the paint's rubbed off the
fence----"

"Penrod!" The father used his most dangerous tone.

"Sir?"

"Who was the man that gave you the concertina?"

"I don't know. I was walking along----"

"You never saw him before?"

"No, sir. I was just walk----"

"That will do," said Mr. Schofield, rising. "I suppose every family has
its secret enemies and this was one of ours. I must ask to be excused!"

With that, he went out crossly, stopping in the hall a moment before
passing beyond hearing. And, after lunch, Penrod sought in vain for his
accordion; he even searched the library where his father sat reading,
though, upon inquiry, Penrod explained that he was looking for a
misplaced schoolbook. He thought he ought to study a little every day,
he said, even during vacation-time. Much pleased, Mr. Schofield rose and
joined the search, finding the missing work