He started home on a run but soon slackened his speed, and the nearer he got the slower became his pace.  He didn’t want Danny to know that he had bought something for Kathleen, for Danny called him “Kathleen’s pet” as it was and he didn’t like to be laughed at.  Perhaps he could sneak in without any of them seeing him and put the bottle back on the shelf and no one would know how it got full.

The Mullarkey children were still picking gooseberries and Mother ’Larkey was still in the living room sewing on Mrs. Green’s dress.  Jerry tiptoed carefully into the kitchen, replaced the bottle, stuffed the cough drops into his blouse pocket and went into the living room, where he squatted down by Kathleen.

Hardly had he done so when the voices of the other children coming back to the house were heard.

“Gooseberries all picked?” sighed Mrs. Mullarkey.  “Then I must be getting supper.”

When she left the room, Jerry fished a cough drop out of his pocket and gave it to Kathleen.  She smiled in delight at sight of it and at once popped it into her mouth, cooing at Jerry.

“Mother, why didn’t you make Jerry help pick gooseberries?” asked Danny, as soon as he entered and caught sight of Jerry.

“He can’t have any pie, can he, Mother?” said Celia Jane.

“Why, he was out with you,” replied Mrs. Mullarkey.  “He just this minute came in.”

“He wasn’t near the gooseberry patch,” Danny informed her.

“He didn’t pick a single gooseberry,” Celia Jane interpolated.

“Nora,” appealed their mother, “you always tell the truth.  Didn’t Jerry help you?”

“I didn’t see him, Mother.  Ask Jerry.”

“Did you help them, Jerry?  Not that it makes any difference; you’ll get just as big a piece of pie as any of them.”

“No’m, I didn’t,” replied Jerry.  His lips parted again as though he wanted to say more but closed without a word.

“You’re such a willing worker, I thought Danny was just trying to get even for something,” said Mother ’Larkey.

“Where’d you go, Jerry?” asked Chris.

“Yah!  Tell us that,” demanded Danny.

“I just thought I’d run over to the drug store,” replied Jerry.

“What did you want to go there for?”

Jerry said nothing.

“I bet he found a penny and bought himself some candy,” cried Celia Jane, falling into the habit that many older people have of judging others by themselves.

“Tandy,” said Kathleen, struck by that word, and she pulled the remnant of the cough drop out of her mouth and displayed it proudly.

“Jerry, you ate all the rest yourself!” accused Celia Jane.  “Greedy, greedy, greedy!”

“Oh, did um buy some tandy for um’s ’ittle Tatleen?” mocked Danny.

“I want some,” said Celia Jane.  “Mother, make Jerry give me some candy.”

“It was cough drops for Kathleen,” said Jerry.