Page:Daskam--The imp and the angel.djvu/196

The Prodigal Imp It comes very soon, and you'd be back before they knew you had gone. Of course, you needn't unless you care to. If you'd rather sell papers"

"Oh, no!" said the Imp, decidedly.

"Then, there's your mother," said the man, "she will probably miss you at first, and she'll feel very bad for a while. She'll miss you at night" But the Imp heard no more.

He buried his face in his polo-cap and sobbed with remorse and loneliness.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" he moaned. "I'll miss her, too! I'll miss her awfully bad!"

"Well," said the man, "here's the station!"

And down the car steps stumbled Perry Scott Stafford, with very red eyes and a very damp cap. The man waved his hand out of the window, and the Imp called huskily after him,

"Good-by! But I shan't keep kittens—I shan't!" He did not hear the man's reply, which was somewhat confused. And the train, when it came, went all too slowly for Perry Scott Stafford, who was frightened at his daring and remorseful at his bad temper, and filled with a great and powerful desire to see his 166