"You'll take what you get," his wife retorted, slapping the drumstick onto Penny's plate.

Louise and Penny made a pretense of eating, finding the food much better than they had expected. Neither Ted nor Rhoda seemed hungry, and Mrs.

Breen immediately called attention to their lack of appet.i.te.

"Why, Ted! What's the matter you're not eating? Are you sick?"

The boy shook his head and got to his feet.

"I'm not hungry, Mom," he mumbled. "Excuse me, please. I have a date with a fellow at Riverview, and I have to hurry."

Before Mrs. Breen could detain him, he left the trailer.

"I can't understand that boy any more," she observed with a sad shake of her head. "He hasn't been himself lately."

The younger members of the Breen family quite made up for Ted and Rhoda's lack of appet.i.te. Time and again they came to the table to have their plates refilled, until all that remained of the chicken was a few bones.

Penny and Louise felt quite certain that Rhoda realized what her brother had done and was deeply humiliated by his thievery. To spare the girl further embarra.s.sment, they declared that they must leave. However, as they were presenting their excuses, there was a loud rap on the door of the trailer. Peering from the curtained window, Mrs. Breen immediately lost her jovial manner.

"_He's_ here again," she whispered. "What are we going to tell him, Pop?"

"Just give him the old stall," her husband suggested, undisturbed.

Reluctantly, Mrs. Breen went to open the door. Without waiting for an invitation, a well-dressed man of middle age entered the trailer. Penny immediately recognized him as Jay Franklin, who owned the Dorset Tourist Camp. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Breen," he began, his manner falsely cheerful. "I suppose you know why I am here again?"

"About the rent?"

"Precisely." Mr. Franklin consulted a small booklet. "You are behind one full month in your payments, as of course you must be aware. The amount totals eight dollars."

"Pop, pay the gentleman," Mrs. Breen commanded.

"Well, now, I ain't got that much on me," her husband rejoined, responding to his cue. "If you'll drop around in a day or two, Mr.

Franklin--"

"You've been stalling for weeks! Either pay or your electric power will be cut off!"

"Oh, Mr. Franklin," pleaded Mrs. Breen, "you can't do that to us. Why, with our refrigerator on the blink, the milk will sour. And I got three little children."

The man regarded her with cold dislike.

"I am not interested in your personal problems, Mrs. Breen," he said, delivering his ultimatum. "Either settle your bill in full by tomorrow morning, or move on!"

CHAPTER 4 _A RECORD ON ROCK_

"What'll we do?" Mrs. Breen murmured, gazing despairingly at her husband.

"Where will we get the money?"

Penny stepped forward into Jay Franklin's range of vision. Observing her for the first time, he politely doffed his hat, a courtesy he had not bestowed upon the Breens.

"Mr. Franklin, have you a cheque book?" she inquired.

"Yes, I have," he responded with alacrity.

"Then I'll write a cheque for the eight dollars if that will be satisfactory," Penny offered. "The Breens are friends of mine."

"That will settle the bill in full, Miss Parker."

Whipping a fountain pen from his pocket, he offered it to her.

"Penny, we can't allow you to a.s.sume our debts," Rhoda protested. "Please don't--"

"Now Rhoda, it's only a loan to tide us over for a few days," Mrs. Breen interposed. "Ted will get a job and then we'll be able to pay it back."

Penny wrote out the cheque, and cutting short the profuse thanks of the Breens, declared that she and Louise must return home at once.

"Driving into Riverview?" Mr. Franklin inquired. "My car is in the garage, and I'll appreciate a lift to town."

"We'll be glad to take you, Mr. Franklin," Penny responded, but without enthusiasm.

Enroute to Riverview he endeavored to make himself an agreeable conversationalist.

"So the Breens are friends of yours?" he remarked casually.

"Well, not exactly," Penny corrected. "I met Rhoda at school and visited her for the first time today. I couldn't help feeling sorry for the family."

"They're a no-good lot. The old man never works, and the boy either can't or won't get a job."

"Do you have many such families, Mr. Franklin?"

"Oh, now and then. But I weed them out as fast as I can. One can't be soft and manage a tourist camp, you know."

Penny smiled, thinking that no person ever would accuse Mr. Franklin of being "soft." He had the reputation of ruthless devotion to his own interests. Changing the subject, she remarked that Mrs. Marborough had returned to the city to take up residence at Rose Acres.

"Is that so?" Mr. Franklin inquired, showing interest in the information.

"Will she recondition the house?"

Penny replied that she had no knowledge of the widow's future plans.

"No doubt Mrs. Marborough has returned to sell the property," Mr.

Franklin said musingly. "I should like to buy that place if it goes for a fair price. I could make money by remodeling it into a tourist home."

"It would be a pity to turn such a lovely place into a roadside hotel,"

Louise remarked disapprovingly. "Penny and I hope that someday it will be restored as it was in the old days."

"There would be no profit in it as a residence," Mr. Franklin returned.