“And we didn’t want to spill you all over the road,” finished Paul.
A groan went up from the girls.
“Oh, Ananias!” exclaimed Bess.
“Ananiases, you mean,” corrected her sister. “One’s just as bad as the others. They all hang together.”
“We’re like Ben Franklin when he signed the Declaration of Independence,” laughed Paul. “He said they’d all have to hang together or they’d hang separately.”
“I’ll admit that you have a good car, sis,” said Jack.
“And if that isn’t enough to take us back into favor, we’ll do anything else you say,” said Walter, wringing his hands in pretended agitation.
“We’ll put on sackcloth and ashes, jump through a hoop, roll over and play dead,” chimed in Paul. “No one has anything on us when it comes to humility.”
“It almost affects me to tears,” said Belle, pretending to reach for her handkerchief.
“They say cruel and unusual punishments are prohibited by the Constitution,” laughed Cora, “so we won’t deprive you of the refining influence of our society. Heaven knows you need it badly enough. We’ll let you trail along with us if you’ll promise to be very, very good.”