"
"I DID!"
"No, dear."
"I did," Penrod insisted plaintively. "You made me take it just
before I went to bed."
"Oh, yes; THAT one. But, dearie," Mrs. Schofield explained, "I
got to thinking about it after I went to bed, and I decided you'd
better have another."
"I don't WANT another."
"Yes, dearie."
"Please go 'way and let me sleep."
"Not till you've taken the little pill, dear."
"Oh, GOLLY!" Groaning, he propped himself upon an elbow and
allowed the pill to pass between his lips. (He would have allowed
anything whatever to pass between them, if that passing permitted
his return to slumber.) Then, detaining the pill in his mouth, he
swallowed half a glass of water, and again was recumbent.
"G'-night, Mamma."
"Good-night, dearie. Sleep well."
"Yes'm."
After her departure Penrod drowsily enjoyed the sugar coating of
the pill; but this was indeed a brief pleasure. A bitterness that
was like a pang suddenly made itself known to his sense of taste,
and he realized that he had dallied too confidingly with the
product of a manufacturing chemist who should have been indicted
for criminal economy.
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