ow!"

With a determined eye Terence held his mother's wavering attention.
"Now, Ma, you know very well who took that money and I want you to tell
me."

"Why, Terry lad, how you talk!" Mrs. O'Brien turned her head to listen,
in hopes, apparently, that the baby would require her presence. "But I
will say one thing, Terry: Ye know yirself a young girl, if she goes
out, has to keep up appearances."

Terence nodded grimly. "So it was Ellen, was it? I thought so."

"Ellen," Rosie repeated in a dazed tone. Then her body grew tense, her
eyes blazed. "Terry, I know! Those curls! I bet anything it was those
curls!"

Mrs. O'Brien made no denial and Rosie, dropping her head on the table,
wept her heart out.

"Terry, Terry, what do you know about that! And after the way I been
working hard and saving every cent for two whole months! Just think of
it! And you know yourself the fuss she always made about my selling
papers at all! It's disgraceful for me to sell papers because I'm a
girl, but it ain't disgraceful for her to go steal all my money and buy
curls!... And I can't do nuthin'! If she was a nigger, I could have her
arrested but, because she's my own sister, I can't do nuthin'! Oh, how I
hate her, how I hate her!..."

Mrs. O'Brien sighed unhappily. "But, Rosie dear, Ellen'll be paying you
back as soon as she gets a job. She promised me faithfully she would.
You see, she'll soon be going around to them offices now and she feels
she ought to be lookin' her best. Oh, you'll be gettin' back your money
all right! Why, nowadays a good stenog gets ten dollars a week up!"

Terence cut his mother off sharply. "Aw, forget it! You can't fool Rosie
with guff like that! I tell you, Ellen's nuthin' but a low-down crook
and it's your fault, too, for encouraging her!"

"But, Terence lad, what could I do? I thried to dissuade her, but ye
know yirself how set she is once she gets an idea into her head."

Yes, Terence and Rosie both knew and they knew, likewise, their mother's
helplessness in her hands. With no further words they could easily
imagine just what had taken place. Mrs. O'Brien had, no doubt, tried
hard to protect Rosie's interests. She could always be depended on to
protect the interests of an absent child. Her present attitude was an
evidence of this, for now she was turned about seeking to defend Ellen
because Ellen was absent.

A wail from upstairs brought her ineffectual excuses to a close and,
with a "Whisht! The b