the gilt-edged toy. They were past the healing power even of Spalding's
glue, that was certain. At the painful sight, poor Susy's patience flew
into as many pieces as the teapot.

"O, you naughty, naughty thing, to say it broke itself!"

"Then it didn't," replied the little culprit, not a whit dismayed. "Then
'twas Prudy. We was playing 'thimble-coop.' _She_ broked it all to
smash!"

"O, mother," said Susy, running out to the kitchen; "Dotty's making up
fibs as fast as she can speak! You'll have to shut her up in the
closet."

"Not so fast, my dear. Let us wait till we hear both sides of the
story."

And, as it turned out, Dotty really did not deserve to be punished for
wrong stories. She and Prudy had each assisted in breaking the teapot;
one had knocked it off the bureau, and the other had stepped on it. But
Dotty, who gloried in "a fuss," had begged to be the one to tell Susy
the startling news. She wished to see her eyes flash, and hear her
expressions of surprise. She knew that, however angry Susy might be,
there was one magical sentence which would always her to terms:
"Dotty'll go out doors, 'out her hat, get cold, have the _coop_, and
DIE!"

At the bare mention of such a fearful thing, Susy's anger was sure to
cool at once. This time Dotty varied her method a little.