Jerry wanted to shake the truth out of Andy before the little boy's bedtime. But Andy followed his mother and Cathy to the kitchen after dinner and conversed with them all the time they were doing the dinner dishes. He had a long story about how a boy had been so bad that morning in kindergarten that the teacher made him sit in a chair all the time the others were playing a hopping and singing game.

"I could have hopped the highest. I'm a good hopper. Not a grasshopper, just a hopper. Want to see me hop?"

"So it was you who were the bad boy. What did you do that was naughty?" asked his mother.

"Nothing. I didn't say it was me. Anyway, Tommy Jenks joggled my arm or I wouldn't have thrown a crayon at him. I didn't mean to hit him in the eye. Lots of times I throw things and they don't hit anybody."

"And that's the truth," remarked Jerry, who had stalked Andy to the kitchen. Andy's confession encouraged Jerry. If he owned up so easy about throwing a crayon, it would be a cinch to get him to acknowledge that he had been inside the Bullfinch house before dinner. "Come on up to my room," Jerry invited him. "I've got something to show you."

But it seemed that Andy didn't want to be shown anything just then. Usually Jerry tried to keep Andy out of his room instead of inviting him in. "He's not so dumb," thought Jerry.

Andy proved very hard to corner. Jerry could not get him alone until Andy was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth before going to bed. Then Andy tried to get rid of him.

"It's not polite to come in the bathroom when somebody's here. Mummy said so."

"Listen," said Jerry. "You listen to me, Andy Martin."

"What you want?"

"I want you to own up to breaking that record over at the Bullfinch house."

"What record?" Andy's voice was slightly muffled by toothpaste.

"You know as well as I do. 'The Stars and Stripes Forever.'"

Andy spit in the sink. There was a trace of toothpaste at the left corner of his mouth. His eyes were innocent. A bit puzzled maybe but unclouded by guilt. "I can't read the names on records."

"But you were whistling it at dinner."

Andy hung up his toothbrush. He tried to get past Jerry but Jerry grabbed him. It was like holding a small wild animal but Jerry held on. "Nobody's going to be hard on you, Andy. I know you were in the Bullfinch house playing that record."

"Nobody knows where I am but me," said Andy.

"How did you get all that coal dust on you? You got it crawling in the window into the Bullfinch coalbin, didn't you?"

"I have a mineral collection that has a piece of coal in it. Some of the black must have rubbed off on me. That must have been it. I'm a very dirty boy. Every speck of dirt sticks to me. Mummy said so. She says I'm as dirty as a pig. Is a pig dirtier than a skunk, Jerry?"

Jerry said he thought that skunks weren't usually dirty.

"Remember that time we were out in the car and Daddy said he smelled skunk? Phew! It was an awful smell."

"Andy," called his mother from the foot of the stairs. "You get to bed. Double quick now."

"Jerry won't let me."

"Stop bothering your little brother, Jerry. Come on down. I'm sure you have homework to do."

Andy slid out of Jerry's hold and ran down the hall. "You can't catch me," he yelled.

Jerry didn't try. Sometimes Andy was more slippery than an eel, he thought dolefully. Getting him to confess that he had been in the Bullfinch house would have to wait till tomorrow.

The next morning Jerry woke up feeling heavy in spirit. He still had the secret of the charge account on his mind and now there was the added weight of Mr. Bullfinch's disappointment in him. Jerry had not realized how much he had valued Mr. Bullfinch's approval until he had lost it.

"I'll just have to make Andy tell," thought Jerry, as he dressed in a hurry after his mother had called him twice.

When Jerry came downstairs, his father was just leaving for work. Jerry heard the front door close. Cathy was alone in the dining room eating her cereal. She looked so cheerful Jerry could hardly stand it.

"Don't sit down, you might hurt your head," she greeted him. Ridiculous remarks were popular with the sixth grade right now and she was trying out one she had heard recently.

"Think that's funny? It stinks."

"I was just trying to be pleasant. Mummy especially asked me to try to be pleasant to you even when you were aggravating. And you certainly are aggravating."

"Shut up!"

"Well, you needn't take my head off."

"You might be better-looking if I could."

"Jerry! Cathy!" Mrs. Martin came in from the kitchen with a platter of scrambled eggs and bacon. "I'm glad your father left before he had to hear such bickering. He wouldn't stand for it, and neither will I. Either be civil to each other or don't speak."

"Suits me," said Jerry. "I'll be tickled to death if Cathy stops ya-ka-ta-yaking."

"He's just awful." Cathy's blue eyes appealed to her mother for sympathy.

"Want me to wipe away your tears?" jibed her twin brother.

"Eat your bacon and eggs. I trust and hope you'll both feel better when you've had your breakfast," said their mother. "I don't know what's gotten into you two lately. Always at each other and you used to be as close to each other as the two sides of a pair of shears."

"Bet I always had the sharpest edge," mumbled Jerry.

"That's enough from you, young man."

When his mother spoke in that tone of voice, Jerry thought it best to keep still and tend to what he was doing. He took a large mouthful of scrambled eggs. They were good scrambled eggs. His mother sure knew how to fix them.

Mrs. Martin looked at Andy's vacant chair. "Oh, dear, that child's not down yet. He dawdles so getting dressed."

"He's coming," said Jerry, as they heard a thump that was Andy jumping down the last two steps of the front stairs.

In came Andy, an imaginary pistol in each hand. "Bang!" he cried, shooting his mother. "Bang! Bang! You're all dead. Aren't there any pancakes?"

"Come eat your cereal. I'm keeping your eggs and bacon hot for you out in the kitchen," said his mother. "Tuck your napkin under your chin. I don't want you to spill milk on your clean shirt. You should be thankful you have such a good breakfast. Plenty of children would be glad to have less."

"I'm not plenty of children. I'm me." Andy looked up and met Jerry's accusing gaze with a wide smile. Andy never remembered yesterday's mischief. Each day was brand-new to Andy.

"It will be harder than ever to get him to own up to what he did over at the Bullfinches'," thought Jerry.

Andy knew the way to school and usually Jerry walked to school with boys his own age while Andy poked along alone or with one of his fellow kindergartners. But today when Andy had kissed his mother good-by and had come out the back door, Jerry was waiting for him.

"I've got to hurry. I don't want to be late," said Andy, whose lateness had seldom worried him before.

"We've got loads of time. Now, look here, Andy. I'm in a jam and you're the only one who can help me."

Being talked to as his big brother's equal pleased Andy. "What you want me to do?"

Jerry described vividly how unjustly Mr. Bullfinch had blamed him for getting into his house and breaking the Sousa record. "He's awfully down on me now," said Jerry. "Do you think it's fair for me to be blamed for something I didn't do?"

"Just tell him somebody else must have done it," suggested Andy.

"I did but he didn't believe me."

"Then he's a bad, bad man."

"It burns me up to be blamed for something I didn't do. You wouldn't like to be blamed for breaking a window if Tommy Jenks did it, would you, Andy?"

"Tommy and I can't throw a ball hard enough to break a window."

"I give up," cried Jerry. "I might have known you wouldn't lift a finger to get me out of trouble. Save your own skin, that's all you care about. And I was meaning to give you something nice when I get it," said Jerry, thinking of the candy he would receive from Bartlett's store.

"What were you going to give me?"

"Never you mind. Whatever it is, you won't get any."

"Please, Jerry."

"Nope."

"I didn't mean to break that old record. It wasn't my fault. It slipped right out of my hand," remarked Andy.

Jerry breathed a sigh of relief. Andy's resolution not to tell had begun to give. "I'll go right to the door with you if you'll fess up to Mr. Bullfinch what you did," he offered.

Andy was not in the mood for an early morning call on Mr. Bullfinch. It took a lot of persuasion and the gift of two large rubber bands, an old campaign button, and two feet or so of good string before Andy let Jerry take him by the hand and lead him to the Bullfinch front door.

"You ring the bell," said Jerry. He knew Andy liked to ring doorbells.

Andy did not care to ring Mr. Bullfinch's bell just then. Jerry pressed it hard. He hoped Mr. Bullfinch would answer the bell in a hurry before Andy changed his mind about telling.

"I'll tell him I'll help you pay for the record," said Jerry.

"I don't want to pay money for an old broken record. It's no good," said Andy, trying to pull away from Jerry.

Just then Mr. Bullfinch opened the front door. He was wearing a dark blue bathrobe with a red plaid collar. He looked sleepy and not at all pleased to see his visitors.

"Did you have to come so early?" he inquired.

"It's almost time for school. Andy has something he wants to tell you."

"No, I don't," said Andy.

"Come on, Andy, you promised you'd tell."

"I've changed my mind."

"I wish you'd say whatever you came to say and be off. I find small boys hard to take before I have a cup of coffee," said Mr. Bullfinch.

"I'll give you the first nickel I find rolling uphill. Or downhill either," Jerry promised Andy. "Go on, tell him." Jerry gave Andy a gentle poke in the back.

Andy looked up at Mr. Bullfinch. "You shouldn't leave your cellar window unlocked. A real burglar might have gotten in instead of me. And that record must have been cracked. I dropped it very easy, honest," said Andy in a rush of words. "It wasn't Jerry, it was me," he added.

Mr. Bullfinch stopped looking displeased. "Well," he said, not sounding at all cross with Andy, "I must say I admire a young fellow who will step right up and confess he's been into a little mischief."

"Little mischief!" thought Jerry. Last night at the door Mr. Bullfinch had sounded as if he had considered getting into his house a real crime. Still, Jerry was glad Mr. Bullfinch was not being hard on Andy.

"Good-by," said Andy.

"Just a minute," said Mr. Bullfinch. "When something is broken it has to be paid for. I think you owe me something for that record, even if you think it was cracked."

"I'll help pay for it," offered Jerry, without great enthusiasm.

"I'm saving my money to buy a space helmet," said Andy.

"Let's see," mused Mr. Bullfinch. "How are you boys at mowing lawns?"

"Not bad," said Jerry, not remembering that his mother often remarked that it was like pulling teeth to get him to mow their lawn.

"I can't mow but I can rake real good," said Andy.

"Then if you'll come over after school this afternoon and take care of my lawn, we'll call it quits," said Mr. Bullfinch. "And I owe you an apology, Jerry, for misjudging you. Sorry I had the wrong Martin boy by the ear. I hope you'll bring back that little something you've been keeping over here."

"I may at that," said Jerry.

Mr. Bullfinch looked at Andy sternly. "It's wrong to go into a house when nobody's home. Don't you let me hear of your doing that again."

"I won't," promised Andy, giving Mr. Bullfinch one of his beaming smiles that showed his dimple.

"Come on, Andy, we can't stand here all day or we'll be late for school. I'll be seeing you," Jerry told Mr. Bullfinch, glad that they were friends again.

Andy chattered happily on the way to school. Nothing got Andy down, Jerry thought, envying his carefree little brother. He should be feeling relieved about getting his guilt off his chest. But Andy had not seemed at all downhearted before. "Anyway, I got it out of him," Jerry thought with satisfaction. Yet Jerry was grateful to Andy. He had known him to be far more stubborn.

"Only nine more days before I get that candy from Bartlett's," Jerry thought. "And when I do, Andy not only gets the first piece; I don't care if he takes a whole handful."

Jerry noticed that Andy almost had to run to keep up with him. He slowed down. Jerry felt like being very nice to Andy even if it meant that they would be late for school.