Mrs. Bennett departed and at last Uncle Hector towered behind the counter smiling down upon the two upturned, excited faces.
"Well, Miss Ruth Heywood, and Mr. Cyrus Alton, what can I do for you this morning?"
Again Cyrus raised himself upon his toes, pushed the dollar bill as far over on the counter as he could reach, and exclaimed:
"A whole dollar's worth of that red candy with the white stripes!"
Uncle Hector's genial smile gave way, for a moment, to an expression of surprise.
"Where did you get this money, Cyrus?"
"Father gave it to me."
"Oh, Cyrus!" exclaimed Ruth.
The liar turned and looked at Ruth, not in anger at being exposed, but in a sort of calm amazement that so sensible a girl should ruin so good a plan. Ruth, however, was not the person to compromise with sin.