"Well, then, where's the water?"
Toady pointed toward a basin on a nearby rock, and Billiard made a vigorous, if somewhat hasty toilet. Then, after a moment's further hesitation, he entered the kitchen with hanging head, and, addressing a grease spot on the floor by Tabitha's feet, muttered surlily, "I—er—apologize."
Tabitha's lips twitched. He looked so utterly downcast and abject that she could scarcely keep from smiling openly. "Are you ready to promise to behave yourself from now on?"
"Yes, sir—I mean, ma'am," he gulped, flushing angrily as the girls tittered.
Tabitha instantly silenced their mirth, and turning to the boy, said graciously, "Then we'll let bygones be bygones; but we'll have no more such actions while you stay. Your suitcase is in the back bedroom. Toady will show you. But first, please bring in a couple armfuls of wood. It looks like rain and——"
"Wood! We never bring in wood at home!" the boy rebelled.
"You are not at home now," Tabitha answered sweetly.
"But—we're paying board!"
"I haven't seen any board money yet. And anyway, we need the wood."
Angrily the boy jerked out a purse from his trousers pocket and slammed some gold pieces on the table.