"No-o."
"Then give it to us. We'll spend it for something nice with which to treat those kid cousins that Inez told us about."
"Good idea," announced Walter. "It won't hurt you to give it to charity, Sis."
"All right," sighed Grace. "If you really all say so. But there is such a pretty tie down the street at Libby's."
"And you've a million ties, more or less," declared Bess. "Of course we'll take it from her, Walter. Come on, now! I'm ready."
Under Walter's piloting the chums reached the street and number Inez had given Nan. It was a cheap and dirty tenement house. A woman told them to go up one flight and knock on the first door at the rear on that landing.
They did this, Walter insisting upon keeping near the girls. A red-faced, bare-armed woman, blowsy and smelling strongly of soapsuds, came to the door and jerked it open.
"Well?" she demanded, in a loud voice.
Bess was immediately tongue-tied; so Nan asked:
"Is Inez at home?"