n stan','
she say, ''cause I want you injoy you'se'f when you pay call on me,' she
say. Well, so thishere young li'l Dills settin' there puffin' an'
blowin' his ches' out and in, an' feelin' all nice 'cause it about the
firs' time this livin' summer he catch you' Aunt Julia alone to hisse'f
fer while--an' all time the house dess fillin' up, an' draf' blowin'
straight at you' grampaw whur he settin' in his liberry. Ma'am, he sen'
me out an' tell her come in, he got message mighty important fer to
speak to her. So she tell thishere Dills wait a minute, an' walk in the
liberry. Oh, ladies!"

"What'd he say?" Herbert asked eagerly.

"He di'n' say nothin'," Mrs. Silver replied eloquently. "He hollered."

"What did he holler?"

"He want know di'n' he never tell her thishere Dills can't smoke no mo'
cigareets on his property, an' di'n' he tell her he was'n' goin' allow
him on the place if he did? He say she got to go back on the po'che an'
run thishere li'l Dills off home. He say he give her fair choice; she
kin run him off, or else he go on out and chase him away hisse'f. He
claim li'l Dills ain' got no biznuss roun' callin' nowhere 't all,
'cause he on'y make about eighteen dollars a week an' ain't wuth it. He
say----"

She was confirmed in this report by an indignant interruption from
Florence. "That's just what he did say, the old thing! I heard him,
myself, and if you care to ask _me_, I'll be glad to inform you that I
think grandpa's conduck was simply insulting!"

"'Deed it were!" said Mrs. Silver. "An' dess whut he claim hisse'f he
mean it fer! But you tell me, please, how you hear whut you' grampaw
say? He mighty noisy, but you nev' could a-hear him plumb to whur you
live."

"I wasn't home," said Florence. "I was over here."

"Then you mus' 'a' made you'se'f mighty skimpish, 'cause _I_ ain't seen
you!"

"Nobody saw me. I wasn't in the house," said Florence, "I was out in
front."

"Whurbouts 'out in front'?"

"Well, I was sitting on the ground, up against the latticework of the
front porch."

"Whut fur?"

"Well, it was dark," said Florence. "I just kind of wanted to see what
might be going on."

"An' you hear all whut you' grampaw take on about an' ev'ything?"

"I should say so! You could of heard him _lots_ farther than where I
was."

"Lan' o' misery!" Kitty Silver cried. "If you done hear him whur you
was, thishere li'l Dills mus' a-hear him _mighty_ plain?"

"He did. How could he help it? He