Page:Carroll Rankin--Dandelion Cottage.djvu/214

 190  He's a sharp business man and he wouldn't lose the rent of this house for the sake of letting a lot of children use that cottage. I'll see him to-morrow."

"No," said Mrs. Milligan, "just leave the matter to me. I'll talk to Mr. Downing."

"Suit yourself," said Mr. Milligan, glad perhaps to shirk a disagreeable task.

After supper that evening, Mrs. Milligan put on her best bonnet and went to Mr. Downing's house, which was only about three blocks from her own. The evening was warm and she found Mr. and Mrs. Downing seated on their front porch. Mrs. Milligan accepted their invitation to take a chair and began at once to explain the reason for her visit.

The angry woman's tale lost nothing in the telling, indeed, it was not hard to discover how Laura came by her habit of exaggerating. When Mrs. Milligan went home half an hour later, Mr. Downing was