says his tone was so
disrespectful that she felt her own beginnin' to rise an' she told him
so far from bein' injected she'd been put out an' off a car an' she had
the duck right with her to prove it. He told her as he would advise her
to try to do the duck up in a derby hat an' smuggle him through that
way, an' then without a word more he hung up.

"Well, Mrs. Macy says she just about never was so mad afore. She says
when she turned around all the men in the store was laughin' an' that
made her madder yet, but there was one on 'em as said he felt for her
'cause he owned a pair of ducks himself, an' he went in the back of the
store an' found a old hat-box as was pretty large an' he went to work
an' took the duck out of the basket an' put him into the box an' give
Mrs. Macy 'em both to carry an' put her on another car an' she set off
again.

"Well, that time she got to the depot all safe, an' if there was n't old
Dr. Carter from Meadville an' it goes without sayin' as old Dr. Carter
from Meadville could drive any duck clean out of Mrs. Macy's head, so
she an' he set out to be real happy to the Junction, an' the first thing
he asked her was if she'd been buyin' a new bonnet in town an' she
laughed an' give the box a little heave an' the bottom come out an' the
duck flew down the car.

[Illustration: "'The bottom come out an' the duck flew down the car.'"
_Page_ 188.]

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, you can maybe guess as that was most tryin' both to
Mrs. Macy an' Dr. Carter as well, as is both fat an' was both wedged in
one seat expectin' to enjoy all they could of each other to the
Junction. Dr. Carter was obliged to unwedge himself an' catchin' the
duck was a most awful business an' Dr. Carter had to get off just about
as soon as it was done. Well, Mrs. Macy says helpin' to catch your duck
seems to make every one feel as free as air, an' a man come right off
an' sat with her right off an' asked her right off whether it was a duck
or a drake. Why, she says she never did--not in all her life--an' he
told her she could easy tell by catchin' a spider an' givin' it to the
duck an' if he took it it was a drake an' if she took it it was a duck.
He asked her if it was n't so an' she said she could n't deny it, an'
then he went back to his own seat an' she rode the rest of the way
tryin' to figure on where the hitch was in what he said, for she says as
she certainly feels there's a hitch an' yet you can't deny that it's
all straight