"What'll Mrs. Scrimp say?" laughed Max.
Lulu tossed her head with a scornful smile which said more plainly than words that she did not care what Mrs. Scrimp might do or say in regard to the matter, ran into the hall, and returned almost instantly with hat and sacque.
"Come, Max," she said, "we'd better be off before she gets back. Gracie, you won't mind being left alone for just a little bit? Ann's in the kitchen, you know."
"I wish I could go too!" sighed Gracie. "I wish I could run about and have good times like you and Max!"
"Maybe you will, some o' these days. Good-by, little one," said Max, giving a parting pat to the little white cheek.
"Good-by," cried Lulu from the doorway; "don't fret, because maybe I'll find something pretty to bring you when I come back."
She took a small basket from the table in the hall, Max shouldered his fishing-rod, which he had left there behind the front door, and they went out together.
CHAPTER XI.
"Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted,
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint."
—Shaks.