eassured. "Well, I didn't see him," he responded. "Maybe he's sick."

"No, he isn't," his friend said. "Florence said she saw him chasin' his
dog down the street about noon."

At this Herbert's uneasiness was uncomfortably renewed. "_Florence_ did?
Where'd you see Florence?"

Mr. Rooter swallowed. "A little while ago," he said, and again
swallowed. "On the way home from school."

"Look--look here!" Herbert was flurried to the point of panic.
"Henry--did Florence--did she go and tell you--did she tell you----?"

"_I_ didn't hardly notice what she was talkin' about," Henry said
doggedly. "She didn't have anything to say that _I'd_ ever care two
cents about. She came up behind me and walked along with me a ways, but
I got too many things on my mind to hardly pay the least attention to
anything _she_ ever talks about. She's a girl what I think about her
the less people pay any 'tention to what she says the better off they
are."

"That's the way with me, Henry," his partner assured him earnestly. "I
never pay any notice to what _she_ says. The way I figure it out about
_her_, Henry, everybody'd be a good deal better off if nobody ever paid
the least notice to anything she says. I never even notice what she
says, myself."

"I don't either," said Henry. "All _I_ think about is what my father and
mother say, because I'm not goin' to have their advice all the rest o'
my life, after they're dead. If they want me to be polite, why, I'll do
it and that's all there is about it."

"It's the same way with me, Henry. If she comes flappin' around here
blattin' and blubbin' how she's goin' to have somep'n to do with our
newspaper, why, the only reason _I'd_ ever let her would be because my
_family_ say I ought to show more politeness to her than up to now. I
wouldn't do it on any other account, Henry."

"Neither would I. That's just the same way _I_ look at it, Herbert. If I
ever begin to treat her any better, she's got my father and mother to
thank, not me. That's the only reason _I'd_ be willing to say we better
leave the plank down and let her in, if she comes around here like she's
liable to."

"Well," said Herbert. "_I'm_ willing. I don't want to get in trouble
with the family."

And they mounted the stairs to their editorial, reportorial, and
printing rooms; and began to work in a manner not only preoccupied but
apprehensive. At intervals they would give each other a furtive glance,
and then seem to reflect upon their