"I do believe you, of course, Baby," he said, smiling down on the sober face.
Even he could not repress a smile when Miss Hodges came in wearing her coat and hat, with the bag in the crook of her arm—for in his mind, schooled to imaginative flights by a long life with merry daughters—he could see the scientific skeleton similarly garbed.
Miss Hodges' face was grave, but not unfriendly.
"I think Zee can fix this up with you herself, Miss Hodges," he said, holding her hand warmly in his. "I need not say how much I regret it—but Zee and I have been talking together—and I want her to speak for herself."
"I am sorry this time, truly—not just for playing pranks, for somehow that never seems really bad to me—it must be the original sin, I suppose. But I am sorry that I have just openly tried to make things mean and hateful for you. I never thought of it that way before. I thought it was sort of your job to put up with the mischief. I can't promise to be an angel like Treasure, for I was not born like that. But I am going to try very hard not to annoy you, and I'd like to be friends, if you don't mind."
Thinking it over afterward, Father Artman felt that Zee had left many loopholes for future escapades, but her voice had been sincere, and her eyes honest, and Miss Hodges had accepted the apology promptly. And knowing his girls, Mr. Artman felt confident that Zee's loyalty to the manse would keep her from open disgrace again.
"Something just has to be done about that Zee," Rosalie said to Doris. "And it certainly is up to you, General. Why, she gets more scatter-brained and harum-scarum every day. Can't you steady her up a little?"
"How? It is all right to say it is up to me—but who can take a puff of thistledown like Zee and steady it? She does not grow that way."
"Well, this will hold her down for a week or so, but you'd better think up some way of handling her. Something has to be done, and right away, too. Why, she is fourteen, and in high school. I was practically a young lady when I was in high school."
"You were practically a young lady when you were in kindergarten," said Doris gaily. "My, what pretty airs you did put on. You always would carry the finest handkerchiefs, and how you would scheme to get a fresh ribbon oftener than anybody else."