You will promise me, won't you,
little Lucy?"
A troubled expression came into little Lucy's kind
eyes. "But she told Lily, and Lily told Amelia, and
Amelia told her grandmother Wheeler, and her
grandmother Wheeler told Miss Parmalee when she
met her on the street after school, and Miss Parma-
lee called on my aunt Martha and told her," said
little Lucy.
"Oh, shucks!" said Jim.
"And my aunt Martha told my father that she
thought perhaps she ought to ask for her when she
called on your mother. She said Arnold Carruth's
aunt Flora was going to call, and his aunt Dorothy.
I heard Miss Acton tell Miss Parmalee that she
thought they ought to ask for her when they called
on your mother, too."
"Little Lucy," he said, and lowered his voice,
"you must promise me never, as long as you live,
to tell what I am going to tell you."
Little Lucy looked frightened.
"Promise!" insisted Jim.
"I promise," said little Lucy, in a weak voice.
"Never, as long as you live, to tell anybody.
Promise!"
"I promise."
"Now, you know if you break your promise and
tell, you will be guilty of a dreadful lie and be very
wicked."
Little Lucy shivered. "I never will."
"Well, my new cousin Content Adams -- tells lies."
Little Lucy gasped.
"Yes, she does. She says she has a big sister
Solly, and she hasn't got any big sister Solly.
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