otato salad, to slice the ham, and to help the cook (a most
inefficient Irish person, taken on only for that month during the
absence of the family's beloved and venerated Sing Wo) in the matter of
preparing the Sunday evening tea.

Tea was had at half-past five. Never in the history of the family had
its menu varied: cold ham, potato salad, pork and beans, canned fruit,
chocolate, and the inevitable pitcher of ice-water.

In the absence of Victorine, Maggie waited on the table, very
uncomfortable in her one good dress and stiff white apron. She stood
off from the table, making awkward dabs at it from time to time. In
her excess of deference she developed a clumsiness that was beyond all
expression. She passed the plates upon the wrong side, and remembered
herself with a broken apology at inopportune moments. She dropped a
spoon, she spilled the ice-water. She handled the delft cups and
platters with an exaggerated solicitude, as though they were glass
bombs. She brushed the crumbs into their laps instead of into the
crumb-tray, and at last, when she had sat even Travis' placid nerves in
a jangle, was dismissed to the kitchen, and retired with a gasp of
unspeakable relief.

Suddenly there came a prolonged trilling of the electric bell, and
Howard flashed a grin at Travis. Snooky jumped up and pushed back,
crying out: "I'll go! I'll go!"

Mr. Bessemer glanced nervously at Travis. "That's Mr. Rivers, isn't
it, daughter?" Travis smiled. "Well, I think I'll--I think I'd
better--" he began.

"No," said Travis, "I don't want you to, Papum; you sit right where you
are. How absurd!"

The old man dropped obediently back into his seat.

"That's all right, Maggie," said Travis as the cook reappeared from the
pantry. "Snooky went."

"Huh!" exclaimed Howard, his grin widening. "Huh!"

"And remember one thing, Howard," remarked Travis calmly, "don't you
ever again ask Mr. Rivers for a nickel to put in your bank."

Mr. Bessemer roused up. "Did that boy do that?" he inquired sharply of
Travis.

"Well, well, he won't do it again," said Travis soothingly. The old
man glared for an instant at Howard, who shifted uneasily in his seat.
But meanwhile Snooky had clambered down to the outside door, and before
anything further could be said young Rivers came into the dining-room.

Chapter II

For some reason, never made sufficiently clear, Rivers' parents had
handicapped him from the baptismal font with the