Baxter cut the argument short by imprisoning Jane's mouth with a
firm hand. Jane continued to swallow quietly until released. Then she
said:

"But, mamma, how can I tell you what he said unless I say--"

"Hush!" Mrs. Baxter commanded. "You must never, never again use such a
terrible and wicked word."

"I won't, mamma," Jane said, meekly. Then she brightened. "Oh, _I_ know!
I'll say 'word' instead. Won't that be all right?"

"I--I suppose so."

"Well, Mr. Parcher said he couldn't stand those word boys. That sounds
all right, doesn't it, mamma?"

Mrs. Baxter hesitated, but she was inclined to hear as complete as
possible a report of Mr. and Mrs. Parcher's conversation, since it
seemed to concern William so nearly; and she well knew that Jane had her
own way of telling things--or else they remained untold.

"I--I suppose so," Mrs. Baxter said, again.

"Well, they kind of talked along," Jane continued, much pleased;--"an'
Mr. Parcher said when he was young he wasn't any such a--such a word
fool as these young word fools were. He said in all his born days Willie
Baxter was the wordest fool he ever saw!"

Willie Baxter's mother flushed a little. "That was very unjust and very
wrong of Mr. Parcher," she said, primly.

"Oh no, mamma!" Jane protested. "Mrs. Parcher thought so, too."

"Did she, indeed!"

"Only she didn't say word or wordest or anything like that," Jane
explained. "She said it was because Miss Pratt had coaxed him to be so
in love of her, an' Mr. Parcher said he didn't care whose fault it was,
Willie was a--a word calf an' so were all the rest of 'em, Mr. Parcher
said. An' he said he couldn't stand it any more. Mr. Parcher said that a
whole lot of times, mamma. He said he guess' pretty soon he'd haf to be
in the lunatic asylum if Miss Pratt stayed a few more days with her word
little dog an' her word Willie Baxter an' all the other word calfs. Mrs.
Parcher said he oughtn't to say 'word,' mamma. She said, 'Hush, hush!'
to him, mamma. He talked like this, mamma: he said, 'I'll be word if I
stand it!' An' he kept gettin' crosser, an' he said, 'Word! Word! WORD!
WOR--'"

"There!" Mrs. Baxter interrupted, sharply. "That will do, Jane! We'll
talk about something else now, I think."

Jane looked hurt; she was taking great pleasure in this confidential
interview, and gladly would have continued to quote the harried Mr.
Parcher at great length. Still, she was not entirely uncontent: she must
have had some