“Why didn’t you tell Aunt Peggy what you and Annie were playing?”
The candid Dorothy had an instant reply. “’Cause I didn’t want you to make me stop.” It was clear that the sin had not been one of ignorance. Peggy resolved to act upon Dorothy’s counsel.
After the two reached home, the story had so many tellings that there seemed a little danger of Dorothy’s penitence evaporating in self-importance. “I had the last turn, anyway,” she boasted; “and he runned faster with me on his back, too.”
“Oh, if I’d only been there with my camera,” lamented Amy. “Think what a snap-shot it would have made.” Then as Peggy frowned at her behind Dorothy’s shoulder, she subsided with a grimace of comprehension.
As Dorothy climbed the stairs to bed, it was understood that the hour of retribution had arrived. Dorothy wept softly while undressing, and uttered agonizing shrieks as she underwent her chastisement. Down-stairs the girls looked at one another aghast, and Hobo whined uneasily, as if asking permission to interfere. Then the uproar ended abruptly, and Dorothy climbing upon Peggy’s knee, pledged herself solemnly never again to ride boar-back, a promise which stands more than an even chance of being religiously kept.
Altogether Peggy was inclined to regard her methods of discipline as highly successful. It was not till a penitent and altogether adorable Dorothy had been tucked into bed, and kissed uncounted times, that doubt assailed her. She was moving toward the stairs, when a small voice arrested her steps.
“Aunt Peggy,” Dorothy said dreamily, “you don’t spank as hard as my mamma does. You whipped me just the way Hobo whips himself with his tail.”
CHAPTER XII
THE NEW LUCY
In the week that followed, the education of Lucy Haines progressed rapidly. After that first afternoon when the time had slipped away without her knowing it, she kept her eye on the clock and was careful not to over-stay the hour. But as she came every day, and her enthusiasm for learning fully matched Peggy’s enthusiasm for teaching, the results were all that could be wished.