“That pup belongs to me, now,” she said marching back.
The school bell ringing at this moment ended the scene.
“Who’s that little girl who wears the scarlet cape?” Maida asked Dorothy and Mabel Clark when they came in together at four.
“Rosie Brine,” they answered in chorus.
“She’s a dreffle naughty girl,” Mabel said in a whisper, and “My mommer won’t let me play with her,” Dorothy added.
“Why not?” Maida asked.
“She’s a tom-boy,” Mabel informed her.
“What’s a tom-boy?” Maida asked Billy that night at dinner.
“A tom-boy?” Billy repeated. “Why, a tom-boy is a girl who acts like a boy.”
“How can a girl be a boy?” Maida queried after a few moments of thought. “Why don’t they call her a tom-girl?”