"Offered me a hundred dollars not to!"
"Then I suppose it wouldn't be any good offering two hundred."
"Not in the least—nor two thousand!"
Coal Oil Johnny sighed, and puffed away at his cigar.
"See here," he said at last, "why wouldn't it be a bright idea to give me lessons—at so much a lesson—on how to behave, and that kind of thing!"
Sattie Felton clapped her hands together excitedly.
"I take him, I take him!" she cried. "I spoke first, girls, and it beats filing all hollow." In her eagerness she jumped up and ran to Coal Oil Johnny, as though to hold him tight and prevent his being snatched away from her by the others. Poor Bassity had hoped to fall into other hands, and his face showed his disappointment.
"I hoped—" he stammered. "I thought perhaps—"
"No, Sattie spoke first," said Miss Hemingway, detecting incipient rebellion, "and, anyway, she deserves to have you, for her plan wasn't any good and was hardly better than getting a present of the money from her father!"
"What can I charge him?" exclaimed Sattie. "What are lessons worth, Dolly—good long ones?"