"Well, I did! What's the matter with y'! I wouldn't need t' bathe if I wasn't dirty!"
"Oh,"—tears of mortification swam in the violet-blue eyes—"but you were extra dirty!"
"Oh, I don't know," returned Johnnie, refusing to get panic-stricken.
"I'd like to see your bath water," she persisted. "Where is it?"
"Gone down the sink."
"How did it look! Pretty bad? Dark? Just how?"
"Well, it looked kind of riley if you got under the soap that was floatin' on top," Johnnie admitted. "'Cause I give myself a dandy one! Oh, a lot of skin come off!"
"Oh, my! And did he see under the soap? And what did you use for a towel?"
Johnnie had used a pillowcase. "'Cause what else could I use?" he implored.
But Cis did not answer, for she was in tears. And she would not look up even to see him salute.