"If you got us some soap and water," Will suggested after they had indulged in some sheepish grins at their own expense, "you might be doing a little good in the world."
"Well, you ought to know how to find it yourselves," Grace retorted. "Suppose you go and wash, and make yourselves look like respectable citizens again—even though you aren't," she added sweetly.
"Look out, Grace, some time we will get even for all the knocks you have been handing out," Frank threatened, shaking a grimy fist in her direction.
"Now I don't suppose we can have a fire at all," sighed Mollie, as the boys made a rush for the stairs. "And I did so want one."
"If we can find a blower," Allen shouted from the landing, "we'll have a good fire yet."
"Yes, look around, girls, will you?" Roy added, "It will save no end of time."
"Do you know what a blower looks like?" Mollie inquired, a puzzled frown on her forehead. "How can I find anything when I don't know what it looks like?"
"Oh, I know," said Betty. "We used to have one at home before dad put the hood on the fire-place. Let's go on a still hunt."
This they did, and when the boys came down a few minutes later they proudly announced their discovery.
"This is it, isn't it?" asked Betty, indicating a big square of tin with a handle at the top. "It looks like the one we used to use."