e wainscoting on the kitchen wall, did
a stick crashing to the floor tell Miss Morgan that Bud was in the
house.

But there is a destiny that shapes our ends, and just as the falling
wood attracted Miss Morgan's attention, it was diverted by a
belligerent party at her front gate. This belligerent party was
composed of two persons, to wit: one mother from the north end of
Willow Creek, irate to the spluttering point, and one boy lagging as
far behind the mother as his short arm would allow him to lag. The
mother held the short arm, and was literally dragging her son to Miss
Morgan's gate to offer him in evidence as "Exhibit A" in a possible
cause of the State of Kansas vs. Henry Perkins. Exhibit A was black
and blue as to the eyes, torn as to the shirt, bloody as to the nose,
tumbled and dusty as to the hair, and as to the countenance, clearly
and unquestionably sheep-faced. The mother opened the bombardment
with: "Miss Morgan, I just want you to look at my boy."

[Illustration: "_Miss Morgan, I just want you to look at my boy_."]

Miss Morgan looked in horror, and exclaimed: "Well, for mercy sakes!
Where on earth's he been?"

And the leader of the war party returned: "Where's he been? Well, I'll
tell you where he's been. And I just want you to know who done this."
Here Exhibit A got behind a post. The recital of the details of his
catastrophe was humiliating. But the mother continued: "Henry Perkins
done this. I don't believe in stirring up neighborhood quarrels and
all that, but I've just stood this long enough. My boy can't stick his
nose out of the door without that Perkins boy jumpin' on him. If you
can't do anything with that Perkins boy, I'll show him there's a law
in this land."

Miss Morgan wilted as the speech proceeded. She had voice only to say,
"I'm sure there's some mistake;" and then remembering the crash of the
wood on the kitchen floor, she called: "Henry, come here!"

As Bud shambled through the house, the spokesman of the belligerents
replied: "No, there isn't no mistake either. My boy is a good little
boy, and just as peaceable a boy as there is in this town. And because
I don't allow him to fight, that Perkins boy picks on him all the
time. I've told him to keep out of his way and not to play with Henry
Perkins, but he can't be runnin' all over this town to keep--"

And then Exhibit B, with scratched face, tattered raiment, and grimy
features, stood in the doorway. The witness for the State l