“You have no right to go to my pantry and take the food that belongs to me.  It’s neither more nor less than stealing, Miss Lulu Raymond.”

“Well, Aunt Beulah, what do you call it when you take the money my father pays you for feeding Gracie and me, and don’t give us the food he has paid for?”

Mrs. Scrimp colored violently at that, but quickly answered, “He doesn’t pay for any particular kind or quantity, and doesn’t want you overfed; and I don’t consider it at all good for you to eat after three o’clock, as I’ve told you fifty times.”

“Oftener than that, I dare say,” returned Lulu with indifference, “but you might say it five hundred times and I shouldn’t believe it a bit the more.  Papa and mamma never had us put to bed without our supper; they always gave us plenty to eat whenever we were hungry, and Gracie was far stronger then than she is now.”

Mrs. Scrimp was exasperated into a return to old tactics.  “Lulu, you are the most impudent child I ever saw!” she exclaimed, “and shall go without supper to-night, if it were only to punish you for talking as you have this morning.”

“No, I’ll not.  I’ll have something to eat if I must go to the neighbors for it.”

“I’ll lock you up.”

“Then I’ll call out to the people in the street and tell them you won’t give me enough to eat.  And just as soon as papa comes I’ll tell him all about it right before you.”

“You wouldn’t dare tell him how you’ve talked to me; he’d punish you for your impertinence.”

“No, he would say it was justifiable under the circumstances.”

“Dear me!” sighed Mrs. Scrimp, lifting hands and eyes in holy horror, “what a time your stepmother will have with you!  I shouldn’t want to be in her place.”

“My stepmother!” cried Lulu, growing very red, while her dark eyes flashed with anger.  “I haven’t any!  What do you mean by talking in that way, Aunt Beulah?”

Mrs. Scrimp’s laugh jarred very unpleasantly upon the nerves of the excited child.

“Your father will be presenting you with one some of these days, I’ll warrant,” she said in a tantalizing tone.

Lulu felt ready to burst into passionate weeping, but would not give her tormentor the satisfaction of seeing her do so.  She struggled determinedly with her emotion, and presently was able to say in a tone of perfect indifference:  “Well, I don’t care if he does; anything will be better than staying here with you.”

“Ungrateful, hateful child!” said Mrs. Scrimp.  “Gracie’s a real comfort to me, but you are just the opposite.”

“Aunt Beulah,” said Lulu, fixing her keen eyes steadily upon Mrs. Scrimp’s face, “you’ve called me ungrateful ever so many times.  Now I’d like to know what I have to be grateful for toward you?  My father pays you well for everything you do for Gracie and me.”

“There are some things that can’t be bought with money, and that money can’t pay for, Miss Impertinence;” and Mrs. Scrimp, having satisfied her appetite, rose from the table and, taking Gracie by the hand, walked out of the room with her in the most dignified manner.