is the meaning of this? Don't you know that Mr.
Prentiss never allows bonfires? The rubbish is to be carted away, _not_
set on fire."

John, apologetic, perturbed, nodded toward the old gentleman. "Yes,
miss, I know. I told Mr. McBride, miss----"

Grandfather McBride turned coldly upon Katrina. "I ordered this
bonfire," he said.

"But, Grandfather, you know the old orders. Father never allows them."

"I allow them," said Mr. McBride. "Your father's away fishing, and I'm
in charge. This is my bonfire. I order bonfires when I please. I like
'em. I like the smell of 'em, I like the smoke----" Here an unexpected
cough gave Katrina a word.

"But, Grandfather," she began again, only to be cut short.

"When the folks are home, I sit still and mind my own business. Now
they're away, I'm goin' to do things. I'm on a vacation myself," said
Mr. McBride, "and I'll have a bonfire on the front lawn if I say so. You
go back to the house, Katriny, and read Gibson."

"Ibsen," flashed Katrina.

"I don't care what his Dutch name is--read him. Or else"--a grim light
of humor in his hard gray eye--"go over and see that parrot."

Katrina almost stamped her foot. "I loathe parrots," she cried, "and I
came out to talk about this bonfire."

"I know you did," said Mr. McBride, "but this parrot ain't like other
parrots. It's a clown. It would make a rag baby laugh."

Katrina, flushed, angry, at a loss what to say, decided to say nothing.
The sight of John, discreetly gazing at the roof of the chicken house,
the grimness of Grandfather's face, the discomfort of the choking
smoke, urged a dignified retreat. She turned abruptly and left them,
overwhelmed at the exhibition furnished by Mr. McBride, confounded at
his sudden leap into activity after years of serene floating and
absolutely in the dark as to any method of controlling him in the
future.

For a week, his pipe and his daily bonfire contented Mr. McBride.
Between himself and Katrina, relations were polite but not cordial.
Katrina preserved a dignity which deceived neither of them. Both knew
that she was awaiting something sensational, and the fact worried the
old gentleman, for already he had exhausted his possibilities. He longed
for new ideas in this matter of revolution, but none came. He began to
be bored by bonfires, and the lack of opposition to them. Even the
parrot failed to amuse, and he was sinking into dull monotony, when a
walk down the long lane behind the back ga