Well, Bony was sort of mad at it, but it wasn't our fault. So then Swatty said to me:
“I ain't going to play with your sister any more.”
“Why ain't you?” I asked him.
“Because I ain't,” he said. “If my brother Herb ain't good enough for your sister Fan, then I ain't good enough to play with Lucy. And I won't.” Well, I knew what he meant, even if he didn't say it out in words. He meant that he had been having Lucy for his secret girl, like I wanted to have Mamie Little for mine, and now he wasn't going to have her any more because Fan had been mean to Herb.
“Well, I don't blame you,” I said. “I wouldn't either.”
So none of us said anything for a while. Then all at once Bony said something.
“Say!” he said.
“Say it yourself and see how you like it,” Swatty said.
“Why, say!” Bony said, getting red in the face and digging into the grass with his toe; “if—if you don't want to play with her, can I play with her?”
He meant with Lucy. He meant could he have Lucy for his girl if Swatty didn't want her any more, only he didn't say it right out, of course. So Swatty said he could. He said he didn't want her and Bony could have her.