I'll tell you a secret, if you won't tell it to a soul--for that wouldn't be fair to Marmaduke and Jehosophat, who were trying their best not to let their right hands know what their left ones were doing.
Well then, if you won't tell,--when Hepzebiah put her two fists to her eyes, quick as a wink the Toyman placed three of his marbles in her pile, and when Marmaduke saw him do that, why he put in four, and Jehosophat, not to be outdone, slipped in five.
"Better than slipping duck's eggs under the old hen, isn't it?" whispered Jehosophat to his brother, who agreed with a nod.
And that is the way the little girl came to win the game.
And so all through marble time they played many games, some of them very close, too, and a few even ties.
However, on one occasion the game didn't turn out so well. That was the time when Fatty Hamm strolled into the yard.
"Hello!" he said, and something chinked in his pockets. It sounded like marbles.
"Hello!" called the boys, not very cordially, for they were always a little suspicious when Fatty happened around.
"Playin' marbles?" he asked.
"Yes," said the two brothers.