ce.

"It's a good riddance," she said, referring to the phonograph. "Besides,
what right have people over here to fuss about one bullet? Think of our
boys in the trenches."

After a time she looked up suddenly and said: "It didn't go anywhere
near the baby, I suppose?"

We said it had not, and she then observed that the building was a mere
shell, and that people with small children should raise them in the
country anyhow.

It was during dinner--Tish had been reading Horace Fletcher for some
time, and meals lasted almost from one to the next--that Hannah came in
and said the janitor wanted to see Tish. She went out and came back
somewhat later, looking as irritated as our dear Tish ever looks, and
got her pocketbook from behind the china closet and went out again.

"I expected as much," Hannah said. Hannah is Tish's maid. "She's paying
blackmail. Like as not that janitor will collect a hundred dollars from
her, and that phonograph never cost more than thirty-five. They're
paying for it on the installment plan, and the man only gets a dollar a
week."

"Hannah," I said sharply, "if you mean to insinuate----"

"Me?" Hannah replied in a hurt tone. "I don't insinuate anything. If I
was called tomorrow before a judge and jury I'd say that for all I know
Miss Tish was reading the _Banner_ all morning. But I'd pray they
wouldn't take a trip here and look in the upper right-hand sideboard
drawer."

She then went out and slammed the door.

Aggie and I make it a point of honor never to pry into Tish's secrets,
so we did not, of course, look into the drawer. However, a moment later
I happened to upset my glass of water and naturally went to the
sideboard drawer in question for a fresh napkin. And Tish's revolver was
lying underneath her best monogrammed tray cover.

"It's there, Aggie," I said. "Her revolver. She's practicing again; and
you know what that means--war."

Aggie gave a low moan.

"I wish we'd let her get that aeroplane. She might have been satisfied,
Lizzie," she said in a shaken voice.

"She might have been dead too," I replied witheringly.

And then Tish came back. She said nothing about the Andersons; but later
on when the baby started to cry she observed rather bitterly that she
didn't see why people had to have a phonograph when they had that, and
that personally she felt that whoever destroyed that phonograph should
have a vote of thanks instead of---- She did not complete the sentence.

It was