"Prudy," said aunt Madge, gently, "you didn't mean to open the cage door, did you?"
Prudy remembered that she had been scolded before for saying "I didn't mean to."
"Yes'm, I did," replied she, in a choked voice, "I meant to do it a-purpose."
"I'm really astonished," cried aunt Madge, raising both hands. "Then it's surely my duty to punish you."
"You may," sobbed Prudy. "You may shut me up, and not let me have no dinner, 'cause I ain't hungry. I've been eatin' cake!"
"I think," said aunt Madge, "it would be a better punishment to keep you home from the party."
"O," cried Prudy, eagerly, "wouldn't you rather snip my hands? You can snip 'em with a piece o' whalebone, you know, and switch me all over with a switch, and do every thing to me, if you'll only let me go to the party!"
"I'm afraid you'll forget, unless you're kept at home, Prudy."
"O, no, no; I'll promise truly I won't try to help again, never, never in my world."