tuals and scraps
and burnt things that nobody else will eat."

"I'd eat 'em," said Napoleon.

"Of course you'd eat them. There's nothing you wouldn't eat, in the
heavens above or the earth beneath. And all the thanks I get is to be
taunted with stinginess."

"Take some?" asked Napoleon, passing the sugar-bowl to his mother.

"Never!" she exclaimed, drawing back as though a viper had been
extended to her. "Take the thing away--set it down there by your
father's plate. I said I'd use no more sugar till that money was made
good. When I say a thing I mean it."

"Now, Priscilla," remonstrated the doctor, "what is the use of
breaking in on your lifelong habits? You'll make yourself sick, that's
all."

"Dr. Lively, you're trying to tempt me: why can't you uphold me? It
will be hard enough at best to make the sacrifice. Yes, I shall make
myself sick, but it won't hurt anybody but me. I can get well again,
as I've always had to."

"Perhaps so, after a druggist's bill and hired girl's wages. Every
spoonful of sugar you save may cost you ten dollars."

"Then, why don't you give up that vile tobacco? I won't use any sugar
till you do. All you care about is the money my sickness will cost--my
suffering is nothing." Mrs. Lively raised her cup to her lip, then set
it back in the saucer with a haste that sent the contents splashing
over the sides.

"Bitter?" asked Napoleon.

"Bitter! of course it's bitter--bitter as tansy. It sends the chills
creeping up and down my backbone, and the top of my head feels as if
it was crawling off. I believe I shall lose my scalp if I don't use
sugar."

"To stick it on?" asked Napoleon with a stolid face.

"Oh, it's beautiful in my only child to laugh at a mother's
discomfort!" "Ain't a-laughin'," he replied.

"What are you doing if you ain't laughing?"

"Eatin'."

"Of course: you're always eating." Again Mrs. Lively essayed her
coffee, but fell back in her chair with an unutterable look. "Oh, I
can't!--I cannot do it!" she exclaimed.

"Don't," Napoleon advised.

Mrs. Lively with a sudden jerk sat bolt upright, as straight as a
crock. "Who asked you for your advice?" she demanded sharply.

The young Lively swallowed three times distinctly, and then replied,
while shaking the pepper-box over his potato, "Nobody."

"Then, why can't you keep it to yourself?"

"Can."

"Then, why don't you do it?"

"Do."

"You exasperating boy! Wouldn't you die if you didn't get the last
wor