l try to like yours,' said Bess, beginning to think the West
might be worth seeing, though no Raphael or Angelo had yet appeared
there.

'That's a bargain! I do think people ought to see their own country
before they go scooting off to foreign parts, as if the new world wasn't
worth discovering,' began Dan, ready to bury the hatchet.

'It has some advantages, but not all. The women of England can vote,
and we can't. I'm ashamed of America that she isn't ahead in all good
things,' cried Nan, who held advanced views on all reforms, and was
anxious about her rights, having had to fight for some of them.

'Oh, please don't begin on that. People always quarrel over that
question, and call names, and never agree. Do let us be quiet and happy
tonight,' pleaded Daisy, who hated discussion as much as Nan loved it.

'You shall vote as much as you like in our new town, Nan; be mayor and
aldermen, and run the whole concern. It's going to be as free as air,
or I can't live in it,' said Dan, adding, with a laugh, 'I see Mrs
Giddygaddy and Mrs Shakespeare Smith don't agree any better than they
used to.'

'If everyone agreed, we should never get on. Daisy is a dear, but
inclined to be an old fogy; so I stir her up; and next fall she will go
and vote with me. Demi will escort us to do the one thing we are allowed
to do as yet.'

'Will you take 'em, Deacon?' asked Dan, using the old name as if he
liked it. 'It works capitally in Wyoming.'

'I shall be proud to do it. Mother and the aunts go every year, and
Daisy will come with me. She is my better half still; and I don't mean
to leave her behind in anything,' said Demi, with an arm round his
sister of whom he was fonder than ever.

Dan looked at them wistfully, thinking how sweet it must be to have such
a tie; and his lonely youth seemed sadder than ever as he recalled its
struggles. A gusty sigh from Tom made sentiment impossible, as he said
pensively:

'I always wanted to be a twin. It's so sociable and so cosy to have
someone glad to lean on a fellow and comfort him, if other girls are
cruel.'

As Tom's unrequited passion was the standing joke of the family, this
allusion produced a laugh, which Nan increased by whipping out a bottle
of Nux, saying, with her professional air:

'I knew you ate too much lobster for tea. Take four pellets, and your
dyspepsia will be all right. Tom always sighs and is silly when he's
overeaten.'

'I'll take 'em. These are the only sweet th