rlors." Soon the
windows had to be lowered from the top. Mrs. Sieppe and old Miss Baker
sat together in the bay window exchanging confidences. Miss Baker had
turned back the overskirt of her dress; a plate of cake was in her lap;
from time to time she sipped her wine with the delicacy of a white cat.
The two women were much interested in each other. Miss Baker told Mrs.
Sieppe all about Old Grannis, not forgetting the fiction of the title
and the unjust stepfather.

"He's quite a personage really," said Miss Baker.

Mrs. Sieppe led the conversation around to her children. "Ach, Trina is
sudge a goote girl," she said; "always gay, yes, und sing from morgen
to night. Und Owgooste, he is soh smart also, yes, eh? He has der genius
for machines, always making somethun mit wheels und sbrings."

"Ah, if--if--I had children," murmured the little old maid a trifle
wistfully, "one would have been a sailor; he would have begun as a
midshipman on my brother's ship; in time he would have been an officer.
The other would have been a landscape gardener."

"Oh, Mac!" exclaimed Trina, looking up into the dentist's face, "think
of all this money coming to us just at this very moment. Isn't it
wonderful? Don't it kind of scare you?"

"Wonderful, wonderful!" muttered McTeague, shaking his head. "Let's buy
a lot of tickets," he added, struck with an idea.

"Now, that's how you can always tell a good cigar," observed the agent
to Marcus as the two sat smoking at the end of the table. "The light end
should be rolled to a point."

"Ah, the Chinese cigar-makers," cried Marcus, in a passion, brandishing
his fist. "It's them as is ruining the cause of white labor. They are,
they are for a FACT. Ah, the rat-eaters! Ah, the white-livered curs!"

Over in the corner, by the stand of shelves, Old Grannis was listening
to Maria Macapa. The Mexican woman had been violently stirred over
Trina's sudden wealth; Maria's mind had gone back to her younger days.
She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands, her
eyes wide and fixed. Old Grannis listened to her attentively.

"There wa'n't a piece that was so much as scratched," Maria was saying.
"Every piece was just like a mirror, smooth and bright; oh, bright as a
little sun. Such a service as that was--platters and soup tureens and an
immense big punchbowl. Five thousand dollars, what does that amount to?
Why, that punch-bowl alone was worth a fortune."

"What a wonderful stor