"If you're going to fight, you can go straight home," Peace interposed. "Mrs. Wood wants Billy to grow up a gentleman."
"We ain't fighting," they chorused indignantly.
"You looked like it all right. You're always jawing each other, and I don't like scrappers."
"We won't jaw any more," they meekly promised, "if you will let us come over and play."
"I—I'll have to ask Mrs. Wood," she stammered, for, while the newcomers interested her, their slovenly appearance made her recoil from any closer contact.
"Then we can't come," wailed Antonio despairingly.
"Why not?"
"'Cause Mrs. Wood don't like us."
"How do you know?"
"She won't let us play with Billy."