u mean by all?" inquired Nattie stiffly.

"Yes," repeated Miss Kling, without heeding the question. "I know ALL. I
have for some time suspected that something underhanded was going on.
Now I know what it is that has been so carefully concealed from me! I
have long objected to your associates, Miss Rogers, but--"

"Pardon me, but that certainly does not concern you!" interrupted Cyn
disdainfully.

Miss Kling looked at her and sneezed a sinister sneeze.

"It concerns me to know what kind of people I have in my house!" she
replied, "and since you force me to speak out, Miss Archer, I will say
that in my opinion no truly modest and proper girl would become intimate
with those who pad their legs and paint their faces, and show themselves
to the public"--this insinuation struck Cyn so comically that she could
hardly suppress a laugh. "My suspicions, to return to what I was about
to say, Miss Rogers, were first awakened by hearing that--that
instrument"--Cyn and Nattie exchanged looks of intelligence--"you have
here going, when I knew you were not in the room. And now, as I said, I
know _all_! I pass over the audacity of such proceedings on _my_ premises,
but their utter immorality is too much for me to bear! Yes! I found a
wire, and know where it leads! Into the room of two young men! That any
young woman should so immodest as to establish telegraphic communication
between her bed-room and the bed-room of two young men is beyond my
comprehension!"

Cyn felt a mischievous desire to inquire how it would have struck her,
had it been the bed-room of _one_ young man? Nattie, who had flushed
crimson at the first knowledge of Miss Kling's discovery, now drew
herself up and replied with dignity,

"Really, Miss Kling, I think this extravagance of language utterly
uncalled for! I admit it was not exactly correct for me to allow the
wire to be run without consulting you, but beyond that, there was
nothing reprehensible in my conduct."

Miss Kling held up her hands in horror.

"Nothing reprehensible in being connected by a telegraph wire with two
young men!" she exclaimed. "Nothing--"

"Excuse my intrusion; but, Cyn, will you please inform me if I am to
stand all night loaded with green stuff, like a farmer on a market day?"
at this point the merry voice of Clem interrupted, as he came hastily
in, still bearing the burden Cyn had piled upon him. Then becoming aware
of Miss Kling's presence, he added to her, "I beg pardon for my