\DIES' RICH
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OB 
 
 David Freedman
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 THE HICKORY LIMB 
 
 Illustrated. Cloth. 60 cents net 
 
 "The joyful pathos is so true that it 
 chokes you all up but leaves you happy, 
 and one likes to be left happy." 
 
 "An hour of amusement, a series of 
 laughs from the heart out and a pleas- 
 ant vista backward to the days of 
 childhood will come to the reader of 
 'The Hickory Limb.' " 
 
 Cincinnati Tribune. 
 
 JOHN LANE COMPANY 
 NEW YORK
 
 "What's the matter, Margery?" 
 "Nothing. I'm just waiting." 
 
 (See page 13)
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 By 
 PARKER H. FILLMORE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE HICKORY LIMB," 
 "THE ROSIE WORLD," ETC. 
 
 Illustrations by 
 
 ROSE CECIL O'NEILL 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 JOHN LANE COMPANY 
 
 MCMXVI
 
 Copyright, 1911, 
 By John Lane Company 
 
 Copyright, 1916, 
 By John Lane Company 
 
 Press of 
 
 J. J. Little & Ives Company 
 New York. U. S. A.
 
 NOTE: THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY IS 
 REPRINTED FROM "THE YOUNG IDEA," NOW 
 OUT OF PRINT; THE SECOND PART HAS 
 NEVER UNTIL NOW APPEARED IN BOOK FORM. 
 
 P: 
 
 852176
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "What's the matter, Margery?" "Noth- 
 ing. I'm just waiting." . Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "I'm only the hired girl!" .... 19 
 
 "Margery, do you see him? The bees are 
 
 after him!" 30
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION IN 
 LADIES' RIGHTS
 
 PART ONE 
 
 MARGERY was sitting under the 
 cherry tree with a certain air of 
 expectancy. She seemed to be 
 waiting for something or some one. Wil- 
 lie Jones's head popped over the back fence 
 and Willie Jones himself, a tin pail in one 
 hand, dropped into the Blair yard and 
 made for the cherry tree. But Margery 
 still gazed earnestly, tensely, into nothing. 
 Willie Jones, evidently, was not the object 
 of her thoughts. 
 
 "What's the matter, Margery?" 
 
 "Nothing. I'm just waiting." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 There was no reason for telling Willie 
 Jones, but, by the same token, there was 
 no reason for not telling him. So Mar- 
 gery answered frankly: 
 
 "I et a whole bagful of bananas and 
 [13]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 now Effie says I'm going to be sick and 
 thr'up. So I'm just waiting." 
 
 "Whew! How many was they, Mar- 
 gery?" 
 
 "I don't know, but a good many." 
 
 "Think you might have shared with a 
 fella." 
 
 "Well, you see, Willie, I didn't know 
 anything about them. None of us did. 
 I thought I smelled something good in 
 the pantry, and when Effie went upstairs 
 I sneaked in to see. Sure enough, there 
 was a bag of bananas, real soft and 
 sweet, don't you know. I et one and then 
 I et another and, before I knew it, they 
 were all gone. Then Effie caught me as 
 I was coming out." 
 
 "Will she tell on you?" 
 
 "No, I don't think she'll tell on me. 
 But she says I'm going to be awful sick. 
 I was once before. So I'm just waiting." 
 
 "Aw, you're not going to be sick, Mar- 
 gery. That's only Effie's bluff. Listen: 
 [14]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 I'm going out blackberrying. There are 
 just dead loads of great big ripe ones on 
 the graveyard patch. My mother'll give 
 me ten cents if I bring her back two 
 quarts." 
 
 Margery looked at the tin pail long- 
 ingly. She, too, would go blackberrying, 
 but she realized that home was the best 
 place for sick folk. 
 
 "Aw, come on," Willie urged. "You're 
 not going to be sick. I bet anything 
 you're not." 
 
 Confidence begets confidence, and, look- 
 ing at Willie Jones's tin pail, Margery 
 began to wonder whether, after all, Effie's 
 prophecy might not prove a false one. 
 
 "I tell you what, Willie : Wait a min- 
 ute and I'll ask Effie." 
 
 "Why do you got to ask her?" 
 
 "Because mother's not home. Besides, 
 if I do get sick, I'll want Effie to take care 
 of me." 
 
 This last was too sound a reason for 
 [15]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 Willie to gainsay, so Margery called Effie 
 to the kitchen door. 
 
 "Blackberryin'I And in the sun!" Ef- 
 fie repeated, when Margery had delivered 
 herself. "Well, I guess not! Here you 
 are just stuffed full of ripe bananas and 
 you want a-go out trampin' in the sun! 
 Not much! You stay right where you 
 are, me lady, and take care o' yourself." 
 
 "You see," Margery explained to Wil- 
 lie Jones. 
 
 "Aw, rats!" that young gentleman ex- 
 claimed, turning a hostile front toward 
 the kitchen door. "Come on, Margery. 
 What do you care what Effie says ? She's 
 nuthin' but an old hired girl ! I wouldn't 
 let any old hired girl boss me around!" 
 
 "Any old what?" gasped Effie, her 
 face turning red and her eyes opening 
 wide with horror. 
 
 "Any old hired girl!" Willie Jones re- 
 peated defiantly. "Ain't she nuthin' but 
 an old hired girl, Margery?" 
 [16]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 It was a question Margery had never 
 before considered. To her Effie had al- 
 ways been merely Effie merely the per- 
 son who cooked and sewed and swept and 
 waited on table and combed your hair and 
 buttoned your dress and did all the thou- 
 sand and one things about the house that 
 had to be done and always were done. She. 
 was merely Effie and, come to think of it, 
 she must be the hired girl, for in every 
 house in the neighborhood the person who 
 did the things or a few of the things that 
 Effie did was undoubtedly the hired girl. 
 And if you are a thing, what's the sense 
 pretending you aren't? Margery did not 
 wish to offend Effie, but facts is facts. 
 
 "Of course Effie's our hired girl." 
 
 For a moment Effie looked hurt enough 
 for tears. 
 
 "Oh, Margery, how can you? And 
 
 after all the years I've took care of you 
 
 and loved you! You don't mean it, do 
 
 you? You're not going to call your poor 
 
 [17] 

 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 old Effie such an ugly name, are you?" 
 "Well, I don't see why you talk that 
 way, Effie. You are a hired girl, aren't 
 you?" 
 
 "Of course she's a hired girl," Willie 
 Jones insisted. "And I'd just like to see 
 any old hired girl of ours telling me what 
 I dast do and what I dassent. Come on, 
 Margery, we can't wait all day." 
 
 "Any old hired girl!" shouted Effie. 
 She was angry now, so angry that Mar- 
 gery and Willie Jones retreated a few 
 steps in case of personal violence. "So 
 I'm like any old hired girl, am I? I'm 
 only one of them good-for-nuthin' tramps 
 that go traipsin' about from house to house 
 and never keep a place for more than two 
 weeks, am I? I'm a dirty, careless, ig- 
 nur'nt hussy that's out all night and 
 sleepy and lazy all day, am I? In 
 other words, I'm a hired girl! Well, 
 it's just what Tom's been tellin' me 
 all along, and I didn't believe him. 
 [18]
 
 'I'm only the hired girl!"
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 'Nonsense,' says he, 'they don't care 
 nuthin' for you. To them yir only a 
 hired girl,' says he. 'Now come over to 
 my place and I'll make you the house- 
 keeper,' says he, 'and all you'll have to 
 do is give your orders to the servants.' 
 And every time I says to Tom, 'No, Tom,' 
 I says, 'I'm not ready yet. I've been with 
 these children since before they was born 
 and I can't leave 'em yet. But thank you 
 just the same,' I says. And Tom says, 
 'Effie, yir a born fool! What do you think 
 them children care for you?' he says. 
 'Only what they can get out of you,' he 
 says. And," concluded Erne, her voice 
 again choked with tears, "I am a fool and 
 Tom's right. They don't care nuthin' for 
 me and I'm only the hired girl !" 
 
 "Who's Tom, I'd like to know?" WiUie 
 Jones demanded offensively. 
 
 "Who's Tom?" echoed Effie. It was 
 plain that insult was being added to in- 
 jury. "Why, Tom, me young friend, 
 [21]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 is Thomas McGinniss, Conthractor and 
 Builder, that built the house yir living in 
 and every house on your street. And it's 
 ten to one, me young gent, that yir own 
 dad is still payin' his monthly installments 
 to Tom McGinniss, brother of Effie the 
 Hired Girl." 
 
 Effie turned haughtily away, theta 
 paused to add: "If either of yez ever 
 again have anything to say to Effie, when 
 ye ring Mr. Thomas McGinniss's door- 
 bell, ye had better mind yir manners and 
 ask for Miss McGinniss." 
 
 Effie slammed the kitchen door and 
 Willie Jones showed how deeply im- 
 pressed he was by putting his thumb on 
 the end of his nose and wiggling his fin- 
 gers in a manner that Margery had often 
 been told was highly improper. 
 
 "Well, come on," he said briskly. "It's 
 time for us to be moving or we never will 
 get two quarts picked." 
 
 So off they started, a good half hour's 
 [22]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 tramp in the sun. The blackberry patch 
 was in a far unused corner of the grave- 
 yard, adjoining a plot of unconsecrated 
 ground where, as Willie and Margery 
 had often heard, only murderers were 
 buried. There was, of course, the usual 
 No Trespassing sign to meet and pass, 
 the wire fence to slip under, and a short 
 stretch of clay and rubble which ended 
 suddenly in a thick brake of blackberry 
 bushes. Once in the patch all that was 
 necessary was to keep a sharp eye on the 
 gravedigger's house, which stood on a 
 knoll beyond, in plain sight, but far 
 enough away to give one a good chance 
 of escape in case of detection. 
 
 "Now, I'll let you hold the pail, Mar- 
 gery, and I'll pick into my hat. Jimmy! 
 They haven't been picked over to-day at 
 all. We'll get our two quarts easy." 
 
 "H'm," murmured Margery, tenta- 
 tively. There was a little matter upon 
 which she had been speculating ever since 
 [23]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 they had left home. "Are are you going 
 to give me half the money?" 
 
 "What money?" 
 
 "Why, don't you know, the money your 
 mother's going to pay you for these ber- 
 ries." 
 
 "Oh." 
 
 The Oh was all Willie had to answer. 
 
 "Well, are you?" 
 
 "Are I what?" 
 
 "Are you going to give me half the 
 money?" 
 
 "Well, I I hadn't thought about it," 
 Willie admitted. 
 
 Margery felt perfectly sure of this and 
 sure likewise that he never would think 
 of it unless she herself insisted on Ler 
 rights. 
 
 "Then just think about it now. Here 
 I am picking berries for you as fast as I 
 can. I haven't et one. Now if you go 
 sell these berries, you ought to give me 
 half, oughtn't you?" 
 
 [24]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 "I dunno but what I ought." 
 
 A timid creature would have rested 
 content with this, but Margery had had 
 too many dealings with the other sex to 
 put undue confidence in any concession 
 so vaguely expressed, so grudgingly ad- 
 mitted. It was rather a hard thing to do 
 she knew beforehand Willie Jones 
 would hate her for it but a nickel is a 
 nickel, and now or never, she realized, was 
 the moment to demand a definite promise. 
 
 "Well, then, will you?" 
 
 Willie seemed not to hear. 
 
 "Will you?" Margery repeated, stop- 
 ping her picking to make her question 
 more emphatic. 
 
 Willie looked up apprehensively toward 
 the gravedigger's house. 
 
 "If you don't stop arguing and go 
 ahead picking we won't either of us have 
 anything," he burst out querulously. 
 
 It was hard indeed not to act upon a 
 suggestion so plainly expected to be of 
 [25]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 benefit to them both. Fortunately, Mar- 
 gery knew that if she had but character to 
 persist a little longer she would probably 
 gain her end. So, by a great effort of 
 will, she continued idle and reiterated tire- 
 somely : 
 
 "Well, will you?'' 
 
 "Will I? Why, of course I will!" 
 Willie raised his voice and screwed up his 
 face into a tight little knot of impatience 
 and disgust. "Haven't I been telling you 
 that for half an hour? You are the dumb- 
 est ox sometimes! Why, do you suppose 
 I'd ask you to help me if I hadn't ex- 
 pected to share with you ? You must think 
 I'm an awful tightwad!" 
 
 Margery bent her head humbly under 
 this tirade. She had nothing more to say, 
 no defense to utter. By her unwomanly 
 persistence she had very clearly lost what- 
 ever admiration and respect Willie Jones 
 might once have felt for her. But but 
 but she was in for half the profits 1 . . . 
 [26]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 Women are so prone nowadays to prefer 
 some petty material gain to the grand old- 
 fashioned whatchemaycallit. 
 
 "I think we're going to get our two 
 full quarts," Margery remarked amiably. 
 Of course she was amiable. She had every 
 reason to be amiable. 
 
 JVillie Jones, who by this time had fal- 
 len silent, made no comment. 
 
 "Don't you think so?" Margery pur- 
 sued sweetly. 
 
 "Huh!" grunted Willie Jones. 
 
 When the tin pail was about full an 
 accident happened to Margery. She 
 stepped into something soft and clayey, 
 and the next instant, seeing what it was, 
 she started off by leaps and bounds, cry- 
 ing out the shrill warning: "Run, Willie, 
 run I Bumble bees ! I stepped on a bum- 
 ble bee nest!" 
 
 A young gravedigger if it be correct 
 to call the offspring of an old gravedigger 
 a young gravedigger caught sight of the 
 [27]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 poachers just at this moment, and, shout- 
 ing out, "Hey, there! You!" started to- 
 ward them down the knoll. The incred- 
 ible speed with which the poachers fled 
 seemed to give the young gravedigger an 
 erroneous idea of the fear that his pres- 
 ence inspired. There was small likeli-' 
 hood of his overtaking them before they 
 reached the safety of the other side of the 
 fence, but they seemed to him so little to 
 realize this that, for the mere pleasure of 
 pursuit, the young gravedigger pounded 
 on, brandishing his arms and roaring his 
 threats. By the time Margery and Willie 
 made the fence they had so far outdis- 
 tanced the bees that Willie had courage 
 to face about and shout back defiance to 
 all threats and to show his contempt for 
 the whole race of gravediggers by point- 
 ing his thumb to his nose and wriggling 
 his fingers in that same derisive and, it 
 must be conceded, effective manner al- 
 ready mentioned. Although still at a con- 
 [28]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 siderable distance, the young gravedigger 
 caught the full meaning of the insult and 
 almost exploded with rage. 
 
 "You you little " he began. But 
 
 he did not finish. They saw him stop sud- 
 denly, look up, and then, flinging his arms 
 over his head, rush madly back the way 
 he had just come. 
 
 "Oh! Oh! Oh I" Willie Jones shouted, 
 hopping up and down in the intensity of 
 his enjoyment. "Margery, do you see 
 him? The bees are after him! Jimmy! 
 Jiminy! Jimmy!" 
 
 Willie Jones lay down on the ground 
 and rolled and kicked and plucked up 
 handfuls of grass in an effort to work off 
 the exuberance of his joy. 
 
 "Oh!" he gasped weakly, as the humor 
 of the situation finally expended itself. 
 "Isn't that the funniest thing you ever 
 saw?" 
 
 As Margery made no answer, he turned, 
 suddenly conscious that from the start 
 [29]
 
 9* M'! . y- 
 
 y-i^^ 
 
 s: 
 
 v\ > 
 
 "Margery, do you see him? 
 The bees are after him !"
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 she had not been sharing his transports. 
 
 "Why, what's the matter, Margery?" 
 
 There was a pained expression on Mar- 
 gery's face and she was panting. 
 
 "I'm stung," she murmured. 
 
 Willie Jones did not have to ask 
 "Where?" for the middle finger of one 
 hand was already standing straight out, 
 swollen and red. 
 
 "I'm awfully sorry, Margery, honest I 
 am. Put some mud on it. That'll help 
 
 some." 
 
 "I don't see any mud," Margery panted, 
 looking hopelessly over the green meadow. 
 
 "Can't we make some quick enough?" 
 Willie asked, digging his heel into the 
 turf. "Now, Margery, spit on this. . . . 
 Aw, that's not enough. Watch me." 
 
 By their united efforts they succeeded 
 in mixing a mud plaster large enough to 
 cover the wound. 
 
 "There now, does that feel better?" 
 
 "I don't know, Willie. Maybe it does. 
 [32]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 But do you know do you know I I 
 think I'm getting sick." 
 
 "Oh, no, you're not. You just think 
 you are. Brace up now and you'll feel 
 all right." Then, by way of changing the 
 subject and giving praise where praise 
 was due, he added: "That was dandy of 
 you not dropping any berries when the 
 bees chased us. There are not quite two 
 quarts, but don't you care. I think my 
 mother'll count them for two." 
 
 But Margery was not to be diverted. 
 
 "Oh, Willie," she groaned, "I feel aw- 
 ful sick! Oh, if I could only thr'upl" 
 
 "Well, thr'up if you want to," Willie 
 advised. "There's no one around here, 
 and I won't look, honest I won't." 
 
 Margery shook her head sadly. 
 
 "I can't do it alone. I got to have hot 
 water and things. Come on. We better 
 go home or I think I'll die. Oh, if my 
 head just didn't ache so! Maybe you bet- 
 ter lend me your cap, Willie. Thanks. I 
 [38]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 suppose that'll help my head some, but 
 I don't believe it will. Oh, Willie, do you 
 know what I wish?" 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Oh, I do wish I had never et a single 
 banana! And I knew all the time I 
 oughtn't to eat so many, I knew it just 
 as well! Oh, Willie, isn't it tumble the 
 way a person does a thing even when they 
 know they oughtn't to?" 
 
 All the way home Willie had very little 
 to say, but he listened politely as Margery 
 talked on and on, punctuating her sad 
 moralizings with long labored breaths and 
 weary headshakes. 
 
 "And then afterwards, Willie, if I had 
 only sat still as Effie told me to, I might 
 have got off all right. But no, I had to 
 come racing off here in the hot sun and I 
 knew I oughtn't to, and then I went into 
 the blackberry patch and I knew I hadn't 
 any right to, and all I got to say is, it's 
 a wonder a hundred bees didn't sting me 
 [34]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 instead of one. ..." 
 
 Willie looked at her curiously. 
 
 "Do you think you got stung because 
 you picked those berries?" 
 
 "I just know that was why." 
 
 "Well, the gravedigger was getting it 
 worse than you, and I guess he had a 
 right to be there, hadn't he?" 
 
 For a moment Margery was stumped, 
 but only for a moment. 
 
 "Yes, Willie," she said simply, "he had 
 a right to chase us, but he had no right 
 to use such tumble langwedge. I'm not 
 one bit surprised he got stung for it. You 
 heard him yourself, Willie, you know you 
 did." 
 
 Yes, Willie had heard him, and Mar- 
 gery was certainly right in intimating that 
 the young gravedigger was exceptionally 
 fluent in cuss words. With cause and 
 effect so clearly demonstrated, Willie 
 Jones had no further argument against 
 Margery's conception of a prompt and 
 [35]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 well-deserved judgment. He was silent 
 a moment, then went back to something 
 else. 
 
 "So you think you oughtn't to have 
 gone into the blackberry patch at all?" 
 
 "Why, of course I think so! I know 
 so ! Wasn't there a sign up not to ? Why, 
 taking blackberries when there's a sign 
 up is not much better than downright 
 stealing 1" 
 
 "H'm," murmured Willie Jones with 
 interest. Then after a pause he said: 
 "Now, Margery, listen here: if you feel 
 as bad about it as all that I tell you what 
 I'll do I'll take your share of blame for 
 the berries. I'll tell everybody that I 
 picked 'em all." 
 
 Margery turned heavy eyes on her com- 
 panion and, sick as she was, saw through 
 his little scheme at once. He was offer- 
 ing her a chance to give up her share of 
 tainted profits. 
 
 "Thank you, Willie, thank you very 
 [36]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 much, but I guess I'll just tell the truth 
 about the berries. It wouldn't be fair to 
 you if I didn't." 
 
 Willie protested that it would be all 
 right, but Margery was firm. 
 
 "No, WiUie, I did pick half of them, 
 that's all there is about it, and you mustn't 
 pretend I didn't. . . . Oh, oh, I wonder 
 do I look as sick as I feel?" 
 
 Willie scanned her colorless face and, 
 under the delusion that sick folk desire to 
 look as nearly well as possible, said : "No, 
 you're looking all right." The expression 
 of indignant protest which his cheerful re- 
 mark excited showed him his mistake, and 
 he added, rather lamely: "You do look 
 kind of thin, though." 
 
 "Thin!" Margery snorted. "Why, Wil- 
 lie Jones, if you were one-half as sick as 
 I am this minute, why, you you'd be 
 dead long ago ! O-oh ! My head, and my 
 stummick, and my finger, too! But my 
 finger's not as bad as my head and my 
 [37]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 stummick. Oh, how I wish that Effie 
 was here I" 
 
 "Effie?" 
 
 "Yes, Effie. She'd have me well in two 
 minutes." 
 
 "I hope you don't think we'll find Effie 
 when we get home." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Don't you remember what she said 
 when we started out? Don't you know 
 she said she was going to her brother's 
 house because we called her a hired girl?" 
 
 For the moment Margery had forgot- 
 ten, and now, at this sudden reminder, 
 she was so overcome she had to sit down 
 for a few moments and rest on the curb- 
 stone. 
 
 "Oh," she groaned, "you don't think 
 she really meant it, do you, Willie? 
 What'll I do if she's not there? There's 
 no one else knows how to make me thr'up 
 like Effie! She always does it for me. 
 Why, I'll just die, I know I will, if she's 
 [38]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 not there!" 
 
 "I'm sorry, Margery, but even if she is 
 there, I don't think she'll do anything for 
 you this time. She's pretty mad at both 
 of us." 
 
 "Willie Jones," Margery said, with 
 sudden determination, "you've got to do 
 something. You've just got to!" 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "You've got to apologize to Erne for 
 calling her a hired girl." 
 
 "Well, ain't she a hired girl?" Willie 
 protested. 
 
 It was the same question Margery had 
 asked herself earlier in the day. Now, 
 however, she was ready to answer it dif- 
 ferently. 
 
 "No," she said firmly, "she's not a hired 
 girl. She stays with us because she loves 
 us and wants to take care of us. Once a 
 lady sneaked in and tried to get Erne away 
 from us, and do you know what Erne 
 did? She chased the lady out of the 
 [39]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 yard! So you see she's our true friend 
 and just like one of the family, too. Now 
 you're not friends with a person you call 
 a hired girl, are you? Effie was just right 
 not to let us call her that. Why, do you 
 know, Willie Jones," Margery concluded 
 impressively, "I love Effie much better 
 than I do some of my relations !" 
 
 This seemed an irrefutable argument to 
 Margery, but Willie Jones again pro- 
 tested. 
 
 "She's a hired girl even if you do love 
 her." 
 
 "She's not, I say!" roared Margery. 
 "And, Willie Jones, you stop arguing! 
 You're making me sicker! Just see how 
 my head wobbles !" She wobbled it shak- 
 ily a moment to show, and then demanded 
 sharply: "Now, then, Willie Jones, is 
 Effie a hired girl or isn't she?" 
 
 Many a man before Willie Jones has 
 been forced to make a choice between facts 
 and a lady's increasing illness on the one 
 [40]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 hand and fancy and her smiles on the 
 other. Like most of his kind, Willie Jones 
 had not the moral courage to face the 
 lady's increasing illness. 
 
 "Well, if you say she's not a hired girl, 
 I guess she's not. You ought to know." 
 
 "And will you apologize to her for your 
 mistake?" 
 
 "Yes, if you want me to." 
 
 "Well, I do want you to. So come on. 
 I'm nearly dead now and I just tell you 
 I can't stand it much longer." 
 
 When they reached the kitchen, they 
 found Effie with nose a-tilt and eyes sus- 
 piciously red. At sight of them she burst 
 into a loud and cheerful strain : 
 
 "Wait till the clouds roll by, Nellie, 
 Wait till the clouds roll by, ..." 
 
 "Effie," Margery began. Effie did not 
 hear, so Margery had to try again. 
 "Effie!" 
 
 [41]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 "Oh," remarked Effie, stopping her 
 song and looking at them, as it were, for 
 the first time. Then she asked, in her 
 haughtiest tone: "Is it me yir talkin' 
 to?" 
 
 "Willie Jones wants to say something 
 to you, Effie." 
 
 Margery gave Willie a push and he 
 began bravely: 
 
 "Say, Effie, I'm awfully sorry I called 
 you that. But it wasn't my fault, honest 
 it wasn't, because, don't you know, I 
 thought you were. But Margery says 
 you're not. She says you're one of the 
 fambly." 
 
 "Did she honest?" cried Effie, eagerly, 
 her face lighting up. 
 
 "Sure she did, Effie. Why, do you 
 know, Effie, she says she loves you better 
 than she does any of her real relations!" 
 
 When you undertake to do a thing it's 
 a pleasure to do it properly. 
 
 "No!" said Effie, increduously. 
 [42]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 "Cross my heart !" vowed Willie Jones, 
 suiting action to word. 
 
 "Oh, you darlint!" Effie cried, opening 
 her arms to gather in her repentant child. 
 Then she stopped in concern. "What's 
 ailin' yir finger?" 
 
 "Stung!" Margery quavered. " But 
 don't mind that, Effie. It don't hurt much 
 now. It's my stummick! Ugh! Ugh! 
 I'm just dying to thr'up I Please get the 
 hot water and things, quick!" 
 
 "And are you feelin' sick, you poor 
 lamb," Effie crooned, compassionately, as 
 she rushed about making preparations. 
 "Now, dearie- 
 
 "Effie, make Willie Jones go out first." 
 
 "Whoop !" shouted Effie, turning upon 
 Willie with brandished arms. 
 
 "Wait, Effie, wait a minute! Tell him 
 when his mother pays him, he can bring 
 over my nickel, and if I'm not here he can 
 give it to you." 
 
 "Do you hear that, now?" Effie de- 
 [43]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 manded roughly, pushing Willie out by 
 the shoulder and closing the door. 
 
 "Now, then, darlint, just drink this 
 down. That's right. Drink it all. Now 
 swally yir little hand. That's right. 
 That's right. Oh, now yir goin* a-feel 
 fine! Now ye'll soon be a well girl. Once 
 again. That's right. That's right. . . . 
 It's just a good thing to get rid of all that 
 nasty old stuff, ain't it, now? ..." 
 
 When this part of Margery's illness 
 was attended to, Effie bathed her finger, 
 extracted the sting, and in a short time 
 had her feeling delightfully convalescent. 
 
 "And, Effie," Margery began coaxingly 
 in that moment of sweet intimacy between 
 nurse and patient when relief has come, 
 "you're never going to Tom McGinniss's 
 house to live, are you?" 
 
 "Tom McGinniss's house!" snorted Ef- 
 fie, outraged and indignant at the mere 
 suggestion. "Well, I should say not! 
 Who's been puttin' such ideas into your 
 [44]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 head? Why, those McGinniss kids, even 
 if they are me own flesh and blood, are a 
 set of young ruffians! And Tom's wife! 
 Whew! Would you believe it, she's try- 
 in' to break into society! And the things 
 I know about her! No, siree! Me and 
 Maggie McGinniss couldn't live twenty- 
 four hours under the same roof! Don't 
 you ever insult me again by suggestin* 
 such a thing! . . . And now, darlint, I 
 think it will be just as well if we go to 
 bed and take a little rest." 
 
 After she had punched the pillow and 
 smoothed the sheet and had been assured 
 several times that the patient was feeling 
 just lovely, honest she was, Effie lingered 
 a moment uncertainly. 
 
 "And, darlint dear," she began half 
 shyly, "you ain't never again goin* a-let 
 any one call your poor old Effie that ugly 
 name, are you now? It's a turrible thing 
 to bunch a decent, hardworkin' girl with a 
 set o' tramps like them neighborhood hired 
 [45]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 girls. I just tell you a girl has to be 
 mighty careful nowadays what she lets 
 folks call her. Even if she's a perfect 
 lady, they're only too quick to take ad- 
 vantage of her. Especially these here 
 men and boys." 
 
 "You just bet they are!" Margery 
 agreed heartily. "They're always trying 
 to get the best of us ! But just let me tell 
 you one thing: You needn't think I'm 
 not going to get that nickel, because I 
 am!" 
 
 [46]
 
 PART TWO 
 
 THE next day Margery saw noth- 
 ing of Willie until afternoon. 
 Then she caught him just as he 
 was leaving his own gate. Apparently 
 he did not see her, and she had to gain 
 his attention by calling him. 
 
 "Willie, wait a minute. I want to ask 
 you something." 
 
 Willie seemed to be in a great hurry. 
 Nevertheless, he paused. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "Did your mother pay you that dime 
 yesterday?" 
 
 "What dime?" 
 
 "That dime for those two quarts of ber- 
 ries that you and me picked together." 
 
 "O-ohl" 
 
 "Well, did she?" 
 
 "Did she? Of course she did!" 
 [47]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 "Well, have you got my nickel?" 
 
 Willie looked at her scornfully. 
 
 "Of course I've got your nickel! Do 
 you suppose I eat 'em?" 
 
 Margery was very sure that that was 
 exactly what he would like to do with 
 both their nickels transmuted, that is to 
 say, into eatable commodities. But she 
 didn't care to lose time on verbal quibbles. 
 She came to the point at once : 
 
 "Will you please give me my nickel 
 now? I want it." 
 
 Willie squirmed impatiently. 
 
 "How can I give you your old nickel 
 before I get the dime changed? I don't 
 see what you're in such a rush for! Be- 
 sides, I'm in a hurry. I got to see a 
 fella." 
 
 Margery held out her hand. 
 
 "Give me 'the dime and Effie will 
 change it for us. It won't take two min- 
 utes." 
 
 "Effie nuthin'! What do you think I 
 [48]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 am? I tell you, you got to wait! I'm in 
 a hurry." 
 
 "And I tell you, Willie Jones, I'm not 
 going to wait any longer ! I've been wait- 
 ing ever since yesterday afternoon, and 
 now I've got you I'm going to stay right 
 with you until you pay me !" 
 
 With a grunt of disgust Willie turned 
 and ran. As the weakness of sex and the 
 helplessness of young ladyhood had not 
 yet had time to settle down upon her, 
 Margery promptly ran after him. She 
 was as good a runner as he was any day, 
 so he was mightily mistaken if he thought 
 he was going to get away by running. 
 After a few moments he seemed to real- 
 ize this, for he drew up, panting, and, with 
 a change of tactics, turned a smiling face 
 to Margery. 
 
 "Do you want to spend your nickel, 
 Margery?" 
 
 Did she want to spend her nickel? 
 What a question! Did he suppose she 
 [49]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 wanted to punch a hole in it and hang it 
 around her neck? 
 
 "Of course I want to spend my nickel! 
 And I want to spend it myself, too. I 
 don't want no one else to spend it for 
 
 me." 
 
 Willie lounged up to the window of a 
 bakery shop. 
 
 "Jimmy, those cakes do look good!" 
 He turned to her blandly. "Say, Mar- 
 gery, do you want me to buy some cakes?" 
 
 "No, I don't want you to buy some 
 cakes! All I want is my nickel." 
 
 Willie sighed, and went back to the 
 cakes. The longer he looked the hun- 
 grier he became. He sighed again. 
 
 "I just guess I'll have to buy some 
 cakes that's all there is about it. You 
 can wait out here for me, Margery." 
 
 But Margery did not care to wait for 
 him outside. Bakery shops sometimes 
 have back doors that let out on little al- 
 leys. So Margery said: 
 [50]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 "I think I'll just go in with you, Wil- 
 lie." 
 
 Willie knew the cakes he wanted, but, 
 being a wary trader, he priced other kinds 
 first. 
 
 "Them's two for a nickel," the German 
 lady behind the counter told him, "and 
 them's a cent apiece ten cents a dozen. 
 Oh, them's real expensive five cents 
 apiece." 
 
 Finally he pointed to the objects of his 
 choice. They were long 1 , thick, yteflow 
 cakes, fancifully encrusted with chocolate. 
 
 "Three for a nickel," the German lady 
 said. 
 
 Willie sighed so hopelessly that the 
 German lady relented. 
 
 "By rights, they're three for a nickel, 
 but I tell you what I'll do : I'll make 'em 
 to you a cent apiece. But you mustn't 
 tell no one." 
 
 Willie promised he wouldn't, and 
 bought two. In payment he offered the 
 [51]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 German lady a dime. Margery looked 
 significantly at the change as the Ger- 
 man lady counted it out ; but Willie quite 
 mechanically slipped it all into his pocket. 
 
 The German lady beamed on them 
 kindly. 
 
 "Say, yous two can sit down at one 
 of them little tables, if yous want to, and 
 eat your cakes. By rights, only ten-cent 
 orders can sit down, but I'll let yous this 
 time." 
 
 "Thank you," Willie Jones said po- 
 litely. "That'll be much nicer." 
 
 So they sat them down at an ice-cream 
 table, and Willie at once proffered Mar- 
 gery his open bag. 
 
 "Don't you want a cake?" 
 
 In one sense Margery did want a cake, 
 but under the circumstances she deemed 
 it wise not to humor her appetite. So she 
 said: 
 
 "No, thanks; I'm not hungry." 
 
 Willie gallantly urged, but Margery 
 [52]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 was firm, and at length he was forced to 
 begin alone. 
 
 He ate with zest. Gazing at him, Mar- 
 gery had time to ask herself what in the 
 world was possessing him to act so. If 
 that nickel were owing to Henry, or to 
 Freddy Larkin, or, in fact, to any boy, 
 Margery knew with no possibility of 
 doubt that Willie Jones would pay up at 
 once. Among his own kind, he passed 
 for a fellow that was honest and square, 
 but for some reason, some utterly illogical 
 but nevertheless generally accepted rea- 
 son, just because she was a female crea- 
 ture, in dealing with her he felt at liberty 
 to cast aside that code of conduct by which 
 ordinarily he acted. And if the outrage 
 needed a climax the rest of mankind, 
 should they hear of Willie Jones's be- 
 havior, instead of turning from him with 
 the cold shoulder of disapproval, would 
 merely laugh amusedly. Oh, think of it! 
 The injustice of things! The rank, the 
 [53]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 black injustice! Margery turned wild 
 eyes to heaven to register her dumb but 
 not for that reason any less vehement pro- 
 test. 
 
 Willie, meantime, munched calmly on. 
 As the moments passed, he ate more 
 slowly. Naturally. The cakes he had so 
 carefully selected were not hollow inside, 
 but as solid as they looked, and conse- 
 quently somewhat dry and crumbly. Dry- 
 ness and crumbliness induce thirst, and 
 thirst, as every one knows, is one of the 
 first things to eat up a man's wealth. 
 Willie Jones swallowed hard, and in- 
 quired : 
 
 "Would you like a glass of milk, Mar- 
 gery?" 
 
 "Would I like a glass of milk!" Mar- 
 gery's tone seemed to add: On my own 
 money, I suppose you mean! Aloud she 
 concluded: "I should say not! I can get 
 milk at home." 
 
 Willie got up and went over to the 
 [54]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 counter. 
 
 "How much is your milk a glass?" 
 
 "Three cents," the German lady said. 
 
 Willie sighed, and turned sadly away. 
 The German lady called him back. 
 
 "By rights it's three cents, but I'll give 
 it to you for two." 
 
 Margery heard distinctly. Two cents 
 for cakes, two cents for milk. Good! 
 That left him one cent of his own money. 
 
 Willie Jones leisurely finished the last 
 crumb of cake and drained his glass. 
 
 "Well, so long, Margery. I guess I 
 better be going. I got to see a fella down 
 in East Maplewood." 
 
 "Give me my nickel, Willie, or I'll have 
 to go with you. I told you I would." 
 
 "Well, of course, Margery, you can 
 come down to East Maplewood if you 
 want to. But it's pretty far." He spoke 
 as though the possible fatigue to Mar- 
 gery really concerned him. 
 
 Margery straightened her lips, and fell 
 [55]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 into step. She told herself that she was 
 getting mad. The state of her feelings, 
 however, seemed to have no effect upon 
 her companion. He continued exasperat- 
 ingly bland and friendly. At street cross- 
 ings he warned her of the danger of ap- 
 proaching vehicles; he begged her to step 
 this way or that in order not to muddy 
 her shoes; and along the flower beds of 
 Boulevard Place he insisted upon her tell- 
 ing him which she preferred, red gera- 
 niums or pink, and why. 
 
 As they came into East Maplewood his 
 manner changed. A frown settled be- 
 tween his eyes, and he drew a long breath 
 of rising indignation. He was deciding 
 evidently that patience and forbearance 
 had reached their limit. Stopping short 
 in front of a little candy store, he turned 
 upon Margery with a sudden grim threat 
 in voice and eye. 
 
 "Now, then, Margery, I've stood this 
 foolin' long enough! Beat it!" 
 [56]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 But Margery gave him back look for 
 look, and, instead of shrinking away at 
 sight of his determined glance, answered 
 emphatic scowl with scowl just as em- 
 phatic. 
 
 " You've stood this fooling long enough, 
 have you, Willie Jones ? And what about 
 me? There's just one thing I want to 
 tell you : You'll never get rid of me until 
 you give me my nickel I" 
 
 "Aw, go on " 
 
 Willie Jones broke off as two little girls 
 who were passing stopped to look inquir- 
 ingly, not to say inquisitively, from him 
 to Margery. They were both a few years 
 older than Margery, poor children evi- 
 dently, for one of them carried a parcel 
 of afternoon papers that she seemed to 
 be delivering. It was the other one who, 
 after a moment's pause, addressed Mar- 
 gery: 
 
 "What's the matter, little girl? Has 
 he got a nickel of yours?" 
 [57]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 Margery hesitated. Her struggle with 
 Willie Jones was so much like a family 
 quarrel that she was loath to call in out- 
 side interference. Truth to tell, if Willie 
 Jones had been her own brother Henry, 
 she would have died rather than disclose 
 to the world the disgraceful cause of their 
 wrangle. But Willie Jones wasn't Henry, 
 and, besides that, Henry, though he was 
 a boy, would never act this way about a 
 nickel that was really hers. This thought 
 decided her. She would give Willie Jones 
 one more chance, and then, if he still per- 
 sisted in ignoring the justice of her claim, 
 she would force the situation by inviting 
 the assistance of these friendly strangers. 
 
 Her words, though directed only to 
 Willie, told the listening world all that it 
 need know. 
 
 "I don't know what's the matter with 
 you, Willie. I don't see why you're act- 
 ing so mean. You know very well that 
 nickel in your pocket, on the right-hand 
 [58]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 side, is mine. Now, I ask you for the last 
 time: Please give it to me." 
 
 Margery held out her hand, but Willie, 
 excited, perhaps, by the presence of the 
 newcomers, seemed to lose all sense of 
 the fitness of things, for he dashed Mar- 
 gery's hand rudely aside, and shouted 
 angrily: 
 
 "Aw, go on! What do you think I 
 am? I'll give you that nickel when I'm 
 good and ready, and not before!" 
 
 "O-oh!" the newcomers chorused, in 
 horror, and the young lady who had al- 
 ready spoken to Margery exclaimed to 
 the lady of the papers : 
 
 "Oh, Rosie, ain't he just awful?" 
 
 Then she turned to Margery. 
 
 "You poor thing! What's your name?" 
 
 Margery told her. 
 
 "Margery, did you say? Well, Mar- 
 gery, let me introduce you to my friend, 
 Rosie O'Brien. Rosie, this is my friend, 
 Margery." 
 
 [59]'
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 "Glad to know you," Rosie said, put- 
 ting out the hand that was unencumbered 
 with papers. "And her name," Rosie con- 
 tinued, indicating the introductress of the 
 moment before, "is Janet McFadden. 
 Janet, won't you shake hands with my 
 friend, Margery?" 
 
 Janet would, and did so most cordially. 
 Then, pointing with her thumb over her 
 shoulder, not deigning to waste even a 
 glance on Willie Jones, she inquired 
 haughtily : 
 
 "And what does he answer to?" 
 
 Margery told her. 
 
 "Huh! Well, we'll Willie- Jones him, 
 all right, before we're through with him!" 
 
 Now, it has been said that for every 
 great cause a leader springs up. This, 
 no doubt, is also true of lesser causes. At 
 any rate, the businesslike manner in which 
 Miss Janet McFadden proceeded at once 
 to roll up her sleeves was enough to con- 
 vince one that the cause of Margery's 
 [60]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 nickel had called forth its champion a 
 champion, be it added, not only willing 
 but able. 
 
 "Lay down your papers, Rosie," was 
 Janet's first command, "and put a stone 
 on them so's they won't blow away. 
 That's right. Now I guess we're ready." 
 
 Willie Jones was regarding them all 
 with dark looks, tinged, perhaps, with just 
 a shade of concern. 
 
 "Say there, you better look out what 
 you think you're doing! If you're not 
 careful some of you'll get hurt!" 
 
 Janet McFadden answered this warn- 
 ing with an order to her own forces : 
 
 "Now, girls, don't hurt him any more 
 than you can help!" 
 
 Willie Jones spluttered with rage, and 
 while he was spluttering Janet murmured 
 tersely : 
 
 "Now's our time! When I count three, 
 we'll go for him. I'll go for his arms; 
 Rosie, you grab his legs and feet; and 
 [61]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 Margery can make for his pocket. Now I 
 One two three !" 
 
 Willie Jones put up a gallant fight, but 
 what, pray, are two stout arms against 
 six just as stout? What, say, avails two 
 strong legs that are pressed, hugged, 
 jammed together by a human snake who 
 has twisted herself about them, and is sit- 
 ting on their helpless feet? 
 
 The violence of the contest was over in 
 a moment, and Janet was urging: 
 
 "Quick, Margery, quick! His pocket!" 
 
 But when you're not trained to the busi- 
 ness, it's fearfully hard to slip your hand 
 deftly into some one else's pocket. Mar- 
 gery bungled, and Janet, impatient at 
 her slowness, loosened slightly her own 
 hold. On the instant, Willie Jones 
 wrenched one arm free, dived into his 
 pocket, and before his captors knew what 
 he was about had pulled up the nickel and 
 popped it into his mouth. 
 
 "You villain!" cried Janet McFadden, 
 [62]
 
 I1ST LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 unspeakably incensed at this fresh out- 
 rage. "You spit that nickel right out! 
 Do you hear me?" 
 
 Willie Jones made no answer. His 
 mouth was too tightly shut to answer. 
 
 Janet would have shaken him soundly, 
 but Margery stopped her. 
 
 "Be careful, Janet, be careful! If he 
 was to swallow it I never would get it 
 back!" 
 
 Willie Jones's face lit up, and he 
 nodded his head vigorously. 
 
 For a moment Janet McFadden was 
 silent, then she laughed. 
 
 "All right; let him swallow it if he 
 wants to ! But if he does he'll turn green 
 as grass and die of blood poison, won't he, 
 Rosie?" 
 
 "You bet he will!" Miss O'Brien called 
 up from below. "By this time to-morrow 
 he'll be dead! Then the patrol wagon'll 
 come for him, and they'll carry him off 
 to the morgue like that Dago that 
 [63]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 dropped dead on our street. You remem- 
 ber about him, don't you, Janet?" 
 
 "Sure I do. He had earrings in his 
 
 ears." 
 
 The earrings seemed to be too much 
 for Willie Jones. The look of triumph 
 slowly faded from his face. 
 
 "Go ahead, swallow it!" Janet McFad- 
 den gently urged. She waited a moment, 
 then declared emphatically: "Well, if 
 he won't swallow it he's got to spit it 
 out; that's all there is about it I Here, 
 Rosie, we're going to lay him down on his 
 stummick, so you lift his legs up. He 
 can't do a thing I've got his arms." 
 
 Willie Jones struggled, apparently on 
 principle, not surely with any conviction 
 that his struggling would avail him. In 
 a moment Janet had him down and placed 
 to her liking. A crowd was gathering, 
 so there was no time to lose. 
 
 "Now, then, Margery," Janet com- 
 manded, "quick I Grab his nose and hold 
 [64]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 it shut real tight ! That'll make his mouth 
 open if anything will." 
 
 This time Margery did her part with- 
 out bungling, and in spite of the look of 
 reproach that Willie gave her. His time 
 was come. He held in as long as the 
 human engine can, then exploded. The 
 force of the explosion blew the nickel out 
 of his mouth, and, lo, all Margery had to 
 do was pick it up. 
 
 Thus the struggle ended. 
 
 Janet and the faithful Rosie, releasing 
 their captive, jumped nimbly aside, and, 
 amid the jeers of the onlookers, Willie 
 Jones got slowly to his feet. 
 
 "Aw, shucks! You call that fair 
 three against one?" 
 
 Janet answered at once: 
 
 "I call anything fair when there's more 
 on the girl's side!" 
 
 Turning her back on Willie Jones, 
 Janet put an affectionate arm about Ma- 
 gery's shoulder. 
 
 [65]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 "Are you going to spend your nickel, 
 Margery?" 
 
 Margery thought she was. 
 
 "Candy?" 
 
 "Yes, I thought I'd get some candy. 
 Do you and Rosie like jaw-breakers?" 
 
 Janet and Rosie both adored jaw- 
 breakers. 
 
 "Is this a good place?" Margery asked, 
 pointing to the little candy store near 
 which they were standing. 
 
 Janet was horrified. 
 
 "I should say not! The jaw-breakers 
 here are the weeniest little things I No. 
 A little ways up the street there's another 
 candy store that has jaw-breakers as big 
 as eggs ! They last at least an hour, don't 
 they, Rosie? Come on, and I'll show 
 you." 
 
 To their surprise, Willie Jones accom- 
 panied them. In spite of all that had oc- 
 curred, he seemed still to consider himself 
 an honored member of the group. Rosie 
 [66]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 O'Brien stared at him incredulously, and 
 Janet McFadden, casting long-suffering 
 eyes to the telegraph wires overhead, 
 snorted out: 
 
 "Huh! The cheek of some people, 
 coming along with you whether you ask 
 them or not !" 
 
 The jaw-breakers at the second store 
 were nearly as large as Janet had re- 
 ported them. The mere sight of them 
 made your mouth ache in delicious dis- 
 comfort. To hold six of them Margery 
 had to make a little basket of both hands. 
 This basket she carefully carried outside, 
 where she paused, ready to pass it around. 
 To Janet's indignation, Willie Jones 
 pressed forward as confident as any one, 
 and Margery did not repulse him. In 
 fact, in her own mind, Margery had al- 
 ready decided that she could afford to be 
 magnanimous. So, to show how far she 
 could rise above petty resentment, she 
 was about to offer the jaw-breakers to 
 [67]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 Willie first of all, when suddenly his face 
 took on an expression of overwhelming 
 horror, and, pointing a startled finger 
 over Margery's shoulder, he cried out: 
 
 "Oh, look I" 
 
 Every one, of course, looked, and while 
 they were looking Willie Jones swooped 
 down upon the unprotected jaw-breakers, 
 grabbed as many as he could, and fled. 
 While the others were still gazing stu- 
 pidly at each other he disappeared around 
 a corner. 
 
 Rosie O'Brien was the first to recover 
 speech enough to gasp out: 
 
 "Well, what do you know about that?" 
 
 Janet McFadden, groaning in helpless 
 rage, worked her arms up and down, 
 clenched and unclenched her hands, and 
 breathed hard. 
 
 "O-oh ! Do you know do you know 
 sometimes I get so mad that I'd just like 
 to wring the neck of every boy in the 
 world!" 
 
 [68]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 Margery alone had nothing to say. She 
 stooped to pick up the only two jaw- 
 breakers that were left. These were on 
 the pavement, for, in snatching, Willie 
 had knocked them out of her hands. 
 
 "I I don't believe I want any jaw- 
 breakers to-day." Margery spoke with a 
 slight quaver. "You you two can have 
 them." 
 
 She offered one to Rosie, but Rosie, in- 
 stead of taking it, threw her arms impul- 
 sively about Margery's neck. 
 
 "You poor thing! That'd be nice, now, 
 wouldn't it? And you not have even one 
 of your own jaw-breakers! No! I just 
 tell you what we'll do: You'll have one 
 whole one for yourself, and me and 
 Janet '11 divide the other. I'll suck it for 
 a block, and then Janet can suck it for a 
 block." 
 
 This was the arrangement finally 
 agreed upon. 
 
 "And wouldn't you like to come with 
 [69]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 us, Margery, while I finish up my paper 
 route?" 
 
 Yes, Margery would just as soon do 
 that as anything else. 
 
 Rosie petted and comforted her as best 
 she could, teaching her how to wrap a 
 paper that is to be thrown on a porch, 
 explaining to her the scale of profits in 
 the newspaper business, and giving her 
 interesting bits of family history about the 
 various houses where they stopped. 
 
 Had she been alone with Rosie, Mar- 
 gery would have been allowed to forget 
 somewhat her recent troubles. In fact, 
 she almost did forget them once or twice 
 at moments when Janet McFadden was 
 busy sucking the jaw-breaker. But the 
 instant it became Rosie's turn to suck, 
 Janet was back again on the old subject. 
 
 "Ha, ha! Don't you think I know 
 
 'em?" The f em of Janet's acquaintance 
 
 were, of course, Willie Jones and his kind. 
 
 "Oh, I tell you, I know 'em just as well! 
 
 [70]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 They're all the same, every last one of 
 them, always getting the best of us, and 
 then going off by themselves and having 
 a good time ! I tell you, if I had my way, 
 things'd be different! Oh, I tell you, if 
 we'd all just get together and treat 'em 
 like they ought to be treated, it it it 
 it'd be just good for 'em it would!" 
 
 Of course, everything Janet said was 
 gospel truth, and there was no gainsay- 
 ing it; but even truth is sometimes de- 
 pressing, and not the thing one wishes 
 forever to have dinned into one's ears. 
 
 "And I know just as well as I know my 
 own name, Margery, that now, after he's 
 acted this way, he'll be coming back try- 
 ing to make friends with you. You 
 needn't tell me I I know him ! But listen 
 here, Margery, don't have a thing to do 
 with him ! Don't ever speak to him again, 
 and pretend you don't even see him. He's 
 not worth it honestly he's not!" 
 
 When Margery parted from them later 
 [71]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 in the afternoon Janet made her solemnly 
 promise that henceforward she would con- 
 sider Willie Jones as dirt beneath her 
 feet. It was neither the time nor the place 
 for Margery to ask herself whether she 
 really wished to make such a promise, for, 
 in the presence of so fiery an apostle of 
 female rights, her private inclinations sim- 
 ply shriveled to fine ashes and blew away. 
 
 "Of course," murmured Margery meek- 
 ly, "of course I'll never speak to him 
 again." 
 
 "That's right!" Janet declared. "He 
 don't deserve it." 
 
 "And say, Margery," Rosie O'Brien 
 begged, in parting, "come down to East 
 Maplewood again some afternoon, won't 
 you? I start on my paper route at half 
 past three you know where. I'd love 
 to have you come again." 
 
 "I'll come if I can, Rosie honest, I 
 will. Both of you have been just as nice 
 to me! Good-by." 
 
 [72]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 Margery trudged homeward, feeling 
 tired and a little down-hearted. Janet 
 McFadden was entirely right: Willie 
 Jones was a villain and a rogue. But, 
 even so, wasn't it rather a pity to end 
 things forever, after all the good times 
 they had once had together? Dear, dear! 
 In a maleless world, justice to ladies 
 would no doubt prevail; but, alas, alas, 
 in such a world the ladies who enjoy male 
 society would probably feel a bit lone- 
 some. 
 
 "Say, Margery, hold on a minute!" 
 
 The voice was unmistakable, but Mar- 
 gery did not turn her head. 
 
 "Say, Margery, I'm awfully sorry 
 honest, I am. I was only fooling." 
 
 There he was, just as Janet said he 
 would be. Janet knew. So far as Mar- 
 gery herself was concerned, she would just 
 as soon make friends, but she had promised 
 Janet, and she must keep her word. 
 Heigho ! 
 
 [T3]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 "And lookee here, Margery, here are 
 all your jaw-breakers. I ain't et one 
 honest, I ain't." 
 
 Margery looked, and, lo, in his hand 
 lay four jaw-breakers, three of them as 
 black and shiny as the moment they had 
 left the little candy store, the fourth 
 sucked down only to the pink. 
 
 "I couldn't help tasting one of them, 
 Margery, but I only sucked it a few 
 minutes honest, I did. And here," 
 Willie Jones continued, offering her a 
 little bag, "is a cake I bought for you 
 with my last cent." 
 
 "Oh, Willie, did you really?" 
 
 "You just got to take it, Margery. I 
 want you to. I'm awful sorry I was so 
 mean to you, but, don't you know, when 
 that old Janet McFadden butted in, I 
 just couldn't help it. I always did hate 
 a girl like her! But I was going to give 
 you your nickel, all right. I meant to all 
 along. Of course I did! Wasn't it your 
 [74]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 nickel?" 
 
 "Oh, Willie, and did you really buy 
 that cake for me with your own cent, and 
 you didn't eat up all my jaw-breakers?" 
 
 "Of course you know I was just fool- 
 ing about that nickel, don't you, Mar- 
 gery?" 
 
 There is no telling what Margery 
 really knew down deep in her heart, and 
 it didn't in the least matter. All that 
 mattered now was this : Here was Willie 
 Jones, genuinely ashamed of what he had 
 done, and man enough to say so. Mar- 
 gery forgave him instantly. 
 
 "But, Willie, I just won't eat a bite of 
 that cake unless you take half, Here, let 
 me break it in two." 
 
 After they had eaten the cake, she in- 
 sisted likewise upon sharing the recovered 
 jaw-breakers. 
 
 "And I'm going to take the one you've 
 partly sucked for one of mine, because I've 
 had a whole one already, and you haven't 
 [75]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 had any." 
 
 Willie Jones protested, but this time 
 Margery had her way, and in a few mo- 
 ments, after the friendliest of partings, 
 he was started home with a fresh jaw- 
 breaker in his cheek and another in his 
 pocket. 
 
 Of course, without a thought, Margery 
 had broken her promise to Janet. Well, 
 what if she had? Margery gave her shoul- 
 ders an impatient little shrug. Who, 
 pray, was Janet McFadden that she 
 should come between friends? To be sure, 
 in her way, Janet was a good, kind crea- 
 ture, and she meant well, but wasn't she 
 a trifle excitable and a little too emphatic, 
 don't you think? On the whole, too, her 
 outlook on life seemed rather limited. 
 There were certain things you never could 
 expect her to understand. Come to think 
 of it, she didn't look like a girl who re- 
 ceived many valentines. It might be just 
 as well if Margery never saw her again, 
 [76]
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 for explanations would be difficult. 
 
 Not so, though, with Rosie O'Brien! 
 If Margery ever met Rosie alone, she 
 could explain to Rosie, and Rosie, she 
 felt sure, would understand at once. Rosie 
 had bright blues eyes and pretty hair that 
 blew about her face in soft, alluring ring- 
 lets. Rosie without a doubt would under- 
 stand. 
 
 Poor Janet McFadden! Margery 
 really felt sorry for Janet as she thought 
 of her going through life weighted down 
 with such a grievance. Of course, it was 
 awfully good of her, the way she had 
 espoused Margery's cause. Poor thing, 
 she was probably still fuming over Mar- 
 gery's wrongs at this very moment, when 
 Margery herself, sucking hard at Willie 
 Jones's half-finished jaw-breaker, which 
 she was in hopes of concluding before din- 
 ner, was feeling anything but injured and 
 down-trodden. Perhaps, though, it was 
 the poor thing's pleasure to keep herself 
 [77]
 
 A LITTLE QUESTION 
 
 always stirred up. 
 
 For some reason Margery was not hun- 
 gry for dinner, but she forced herself to 
 eat enough to avert paternal questioning. 
 The last jaw-breaker she was saving for 
 bed. She could take half an hour's sweet 
 comfort from it before going to sleep, and 
 still have something to look forward to 
 upon awakening next morning. 
 
 While she waited after dinner until she 
 could, in decency, retire, she sat a while 
 within the family circle, quietly musing 
 upon the day's adventures. What a 
 strange, delightful, interesting sort of a 
 place the world was, to be sure, with all 
 its fiery Janet McFaddens, and sweet 
 Rosie O'Briens, and paradoxical Willie 
 Joneses! My but she was glad that she 
 was alive! 
 
 And she really was sorry for Janet. If 
 she could only make her see 
 
 "Well, after all, Margery, what do you 
 think about it?" 
 
 [78]!
 
 IN LADIES' RIGHTS 
 
 Her father was looking at her with a 
 quizzical expression, but his question 
 chimed in so well with her own thoughts 
 that before she realized what she was say- 
 ing, Margery answered: 
 
 "I don't care if they do act mean some- 
 times I like 'eml" 
 
 THE END 
 
 [79]
 
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