and he'd say, 'You can't come in here, Sarah Jane Appleby. You're a
liar. And you know what you can do, don't you? You can go--'"

"Now you see here, Seth Appleby, I just won't have you cursing and
swearing and being sacrilegious. I sh'd think you'd be ashamed, man of
your age that ought to know better, acting up like a young smarty and
cursing and swearing and--"

"And cursing and swearing. Don't forget to put that in, Mother."

He was delighted. It was the first time since September that Mother had
scolded him. She was coming back to life again. He tickled her under the
chin till she slapped viciously at his finger, then he crowed like a
rooster till a shame-faced smile chased away her lively old-dame wrath
and, shaking her head with a pretense of disgust, she said, comfortably,
"I declare I never did see such a man, not in all my born days." She let
him take her hand again, and their expression, half smiles, half musing,
was like the sunshine of a calm late afternoon. They were happy. For
they knew that, as soon as they should have debated and worried and
planned and fussed in a manner appropriate to the great event, they
would run away from the overheated respectability of "Lulu's pretty
little home."

With enough agony of literary effort to have composed a war article and
a column of Household Hints, they sinfully devised a letter for Lulu in
which they stated that "a dear old friend, you would not remember him
as we have met him since you were married, writes us from Boston that he
is sick, and we are going to him, we are stealing out this way because
we don't want you to trouble about it, with party coming on to-morrow
even'g, know you are so kind you would take all sort of trouble if knew
we were going, so just slip away & hope party is great success, Your
loving Father & Mother. P.S., May not be back for some time as friend
may need us."

In the wreck of their fortunes the Applebys had lost their own
furniture, down to the last beloved picture. They had only a suit-case
and a steamer-trunk, the highly modern steamer-trunk which Father had
once bought for a vacation trip to West Skipsit and the Tubbses. But it
required manoeuvering to get even this light baggage to the station.

Mother went nosing about till she discovered that Lulu was going calling
that afternoon. Father hired an expressman, who was to be ready to come
the instant he telephoned.

Lulu went out at three, and Father stole down-stairs to