would be wiser to warn Dada against Marcus and desire her to repel any
advances he might attempt to make, or to let bygones be bygones. She
knew full well how a trifling incident gains importance when undue
emphasis is laid on it; she therefore had merely asked the girl what
secret she could have with old Damia and had accepted some evasive
subterfuge in reply, while, at the same time, she guessed the truth and
was quite determined not to remit her watchfulness. For a time, at any
rate, she thought she would let matters go their own way, and never
mention the young fellow's name; but her husband spoilt this plan,
for with the eager jollity of a man very much at his ease after a good
dinner he called upon Dada to tell their the whole history of the young
Christian's invasion in the morning. Dada at first was reticent, but the
old man's communicative humor proved infectious and she presently told
her story:

"I was sitting alone with the poor little boy, like--well I do not know
what like--you must find a comparison for yourselves. I was comforting
myself with the reflection that the key was on the inside and the door
locked, for I was getting frightened as the monks began to sing in the
yard below, one part going off to the left, as it were, and the other
part to the right. Did you ever see two drunken men walking arm in arm,
and lurching first to one side and then to the other? You may laugh,
but by the nine Muses it was just like that. Then Papias grew tired and
cross and kept asking where Agne was, till at last he began to cry. When
I asked him what he was crying for, he said he had forgotten, I really
am patient--you must all allow that--I did not do anything to him, but,
just to give him something to play with, I took out the key, for there
was nothing else at hand that he could not break, and gave it to him and
told him to play a tune on it. This delighted him, and he really did it
quite prettily. Then I looked over my burnt dress and was horrified to
see how large the holes were, and it struck me that I might turn it,
because when you turn a thing the spots, you know, do not show."

"You have invented that this very minute," cried Orpheus laughing. "We
know you. If you can only turn the laugh against yourself..."

"No, really," cried Dada, "the idea flew through my head like a bird
through a room; but I remembered at once that a hole burnt through shows
on both sides, so I threw the dress aside as past mending a