urned up, and her
throat, where so often the years eat in first, was smooth and even slender
above the rather round swell of bosom.

"Tired, mommy?"

"Always around Easter spring fever right away gets hold of me!"

Mr. Vetsburg bit his cigar, slumped deeper; and inserted a thumb in the arm
of his waistcoat.

"Why, Mrs. Kaufman, don't you and Ruby come down by Atlantic City with me
to-morrow over Easter? Huh? A few more or less don't make no difference to
my sister the way they get ready for crowds."

Miss Kaufman shot forward, her face vivid.

"Oh, Vetsy," she cried, and a flush rushed up, completely dyeing her face.
His face lit with hers, a sunburst of fine lines radiating from his eyes.

"Eh?"

"Why--why, we--we'd just love it, wouldn't we, ma? Atlantic City, Easter
Day! Ma!"

Mrs. Kaufman sat upright with a whole procession of quick emotions flashing
their expressions across her face. They ended in a smile that trembled as
she sat regarding the two of them.

"I should say so, yes! I--You and Ruby go, Mr. Vetsburg. Atlantic City,
Easter Day, I bet is worth the trip. I--You two go, I should say so, but
you don't want an old woman to drag along with you."

"Ma! Just listen to her, Vetsy! Ain't she--ain't she just the limit? Half
the time when we go in stores together they take us for sisters, and then
she--she begins to talk like that to get out of going!"

"Ruby don't understand; but it ain't right, Mr. Vetsburg, I should be away
over Saturday and Sunday. On Easter always they expect a little extra, and
with Annie's sore ankle, I--I--"

"Oh, mommy, can't you leave this old shebang for only two days just for an
Easter Sunday down at Atlantic, where--where everybody goes?"

"You know yourself, Ruby, how always on Annie's Sunday out--"

"Well, what of it? It won't hurt all of them old things upstairs that let
you wait on them hand and foot all year to go without a few frills for
their Easter dinner."

"Ruby!"

"I mean it. The old gossip-pots! I just sat and looked at them there at
supper, and I said to myself, I said, to think they drown kittens and let
those poor lumps live!"

"Ruby, aren't you ashamed to talk like that?"

"Sat there and looked at poor old man Katz with his ear all ragged like it
had been chewed off, and wondered why he didn't just go down to Brooklyn
Bridge for a high jump."

"Ruby, I--"

"If all those big, strapping women, Suss and Finshriber and the whole gang
of them, wer