The children tumbled in, Gregory sprawling across the threshold and knocking Katie against a chair.
"Why don't yer ever look where you goin'?" fretted Sophia.
"He's always runnin' over me!" wailed Katie.
"Say, where's Marcus and 'Melie?" demanded Maude.
"Over to Mis' Cobbe's, where I hope they'll stay till after supper," answered their mother. "Her kids have been here enough, and I guess she can 'tend to mine for one meal."
"I can't go after 'em, 'cause I got to study my spellin'," announced Sophia.
"Nobody asked yer to," retorted Mrs. Bean. "They'd ought to know enough to come home alone."
The meal progressed to the accompaniment of jarring speech, and Polly was glad when it was over.
"Mamma, can we go up on the roof?" asked Katie. "The other folks are up there, and we'll keep away from the edge."
"I don't care; but, remember, the first one that goes near that rail gets a whippin'!"