"That the Christmas-tree out there?"
"Course 'tis. Say, Lucretia, can't you come this evening and help trim? the boys are a-going to set up the tree, and we're going to trim. Say, can't you come?"
Then the other girls joined in: "Can't you come, Lucretia?—say, can't you?"
Lucretia looked at them all, with her honest smile. "I don't believe I can," said she.
"Won't they let you?—won't your aunts let you?"
"Don't believe they will."
Alma Ford stood back on her heels and threw back her chin. "Well, I don't care," said she. "I think your aunts are awful mean—so there!"
Lucretia's face got pinker, and the laugh died out of it. She opened her lips, but before she had a chance to speak, Lois Green, who was one of the older girls, and an authority in the school, added her testimony. "They are two mean, stingy old maids," she proclaimed; "that's what they are."
"They're not neither," said Lucretia, unexpectedly. "You sha'n't say such things about my aunts, Lois Green."
"Oh, you can stick up for 'em if you want to," returned Lois, with cool aggravation. "If you want to be such a little gump, you can, an' nobody'll pity you. You know you won't get a single thing on this Christmas-tree."