heard every word, and pretty soon he
came down off the porch and stood a minute; then he went on out the
gate, and I don't know whether he went home or not, because it was too
dark to see. But he didn't come back."

"Yo' right he didn'!" exclaimed Mrs. Silver. "I reckon he got fo'thought
'nough fer that, anyhow! I bet he ain't nev' _goin'_ come back neither.
You' grampaw say he goin' be fix fer him, if he do."

"Yes, that was while he was standing there," said Florence ruefully. "He
heard all that, too."

"Miss Julia, she s'picion' he done hear somep'm 'nother, I guess," Kitty
Silver went on. "She shet the liberry do' right almos' on you' grampaw's
nose, whiles he still a-rampin', an' she slip out on the po'che, an'
take look 'roun'; then go on up to her own room. I 'uz up there, while
after that, turn' down her bed; an' she injoyin' herse'f readin' book.
She feel kine o' put out, I reckon, but she ain't stedyin' about no
young li'l Dills. She want 'em all to have nice time an' like her, but
she goin' lose this one, an' she got plenty to spare. She show too much
class fer to fret about no Dills."

"I don't care," said Florence. "I think she ought to whether she does or
not, because I bet he was feeling just awful. And I think grandpa
behaved like an ole hoodlum."

"That'll do," Herbert admonished her sternly. "You show some respect for
your relations, if you please."

But his loyalty to the Atwater family had a bad effect on Florence. "Oh,
_will_ I?" she returned promptly. "Well, then, if you care to inquire
_my_ opinion, I just politely think grandpa ought to be hanged."

"See here----"

But Florence and Kitty Silver interrupted him simultaneously.

"Look at _that_!" Florence cried.

"My name!" exclaimed Kitty Silver.

It was the strange taste of Gammire that so excited them. Florence had
peeled her orange and divided it rather fairly into three parts, but the
vehemence she exerted in speaking of her grandfather had caused her to
drop one of these upon the ground. Gammire promptly ate it, "sat up" and
adjusted his paws in prayer for more.

"Now you listen me!" said Kitty Silver. "I ain't see no dog eat orange
in all my days, an' I ain't see nobody else whut see dog eat orange! No,
ma'am, an' I ain't nev' hear o' nobody else whut ev' see nobody whut see
dog eat orange!"

Herbert decided to be less impressed. "Oh, I've heard of dogs that'd eat
apples," he said. "Yes, and watermelon and nuts and things."