“How was it that you were not asked?” inquired Regina, with an air very much like that of a porcupine suddenly shooting its quills into evidence.
“Oh, Gwendoline Hammond is a mean little sneak!” burst out Julia, who was much the bolder of the sisters.
“A sneak? How a sneak? What had she to sneak about?” demanded Regina.
“Well, it was like this, mother. Gwendoline is an awful bully, you know, and poor little Tuppenny was being frightfully bullied by her one day, and she’s a dear little thing, she can’t take care of herself—somebody’s got to stand up for her—and Maudie punched her head.”
“Punched her head! And what was she doing?”
“Well, she was twisting poor little Tuppenny’s arm around.”
“What! That mere child? And Gwendoline head and shoulders taller than she?”
“Yes.”
“And you say Maudie—punched her head?”
“Yes, and she punched it hard, too. And then Gwendoline went blubbering home, and Mrs. Hammond came to Miss Drummond, and—” Well, really, my reader, I hesitate to say what happened next, but as this is a true chronicle I had better make the plunge and get it over and done with—“and then,” said Julia, solemnly, “there was the devil to pay!”