us all sit down and be comfortable," said Lois easily, and Hastings
and Fosdick bumped heads in their mad haste to place a chair for her.

Hastings, with his theatric instincts stimulated, and realizing that
silence would give the massed artillery of the enemy a chance to
thunder, immediately engaged the newcomer in conversation. Paris and its
theaters served admirably as a theme. Lois clearly knew her Paris well;
and she had met Rostand--at a garden party--and spoke of the
contemporaneous French drama with the light touch of sophistication.
French phrases slipped from her tongue trippingly, and added to her
charm and mystery, her fellowship with another and wider world. From
Hastings she turned to embrace them all in her talk. The immobile
countenances of her sisters, reflecting stubborn resentment and
antagonism, were without effect upon her. Instead of sitting before them
as the villainess of this domestic drama, a culprit arraigned for her
manifold wickednesses, she was beyond question the heroine of the piece.

"You remember, Fanny, what a hard business we used to make of our
French? Well, in Seattle I had a lot of time on my hands and I put in a
good deal of it studying languages. There was a wonderful Frenchwoman
out there and I got her to teach me,--all good fun, with her; we used to
go places together, and I finally reached the point where I could talk
back to a French waiter. I really believe I could set up as a teacher
now without being indicted for taking money under false pretenses. You
have been over, haven't you, Kate? It seems to me I heard of your being
there; but you might all have gone round the world a dozen times! Whose
children are those out there? Bring them in and let me have a look at
them."

The children were brought in by their fathers and presented without any
interruption to her flow of talk. She let fall a question here and there
that was presumably directed to one or the other of her sisters, but
their faint, reluctant answers apparently did not disturb her. She was
treating them as though they were dingy frumps; and they revolted
against all this prattle about Paris. It was distinctly unbecoming in a
woman whose sins were so grievous to ripple on so light-heartedly about
the unholiest of cities when they sat there as jurors waiting to hear
her plea for mercy.

"Susan, you dear angel, come here!"

Susie toddled into her aunt's arms, raised a face that stickily
testified to her Uncle