"Yes. It wasn't very manly to set a lot of little girls asking a favor for you. I'm ashamed of you!"
"Oh, father—who asked? We were talking of it over to Josie Dean's. I knew mother wouldn't let me go. I—I said so." Charles' fair face was very red.
"You put them up to ask!"
"No, I didn't. They never said a word about it. Why, I wouldn't have asked them to do it."
Mr. Reed looked suspiciously at his son.
"You don't care to go?"
"Yes, I do, very much." The boy's voice was tremulous.
"Why couldn't you ask me?"
"Because you would leave it to mother, and she would say it was not worth while."
"Was that what you told them?" Mr. Reed was truly mortified. No man likes to be considered without power in his own household.