sha, my little Miriam-sha!" And he fell to blinking as if
with gritty eyelids.

"Simon--ach, Simon--you--ach, my husband, you--you ain't crying, you--"

"Go 'way, Carrie, with such nonsense! You women don't know yet the
difference between a laff and a cry. Well, Shapiro, you play me a fine
trick, eh?"

"It wasn't a trick, Mr. Binswanger--pa, it was--"

"All off! All off!" And a third great blast sounded that set the
tumblers rattling in their stands.

"I guess me--me and Irving's got to get off now, mamma--"

Mrs. Binswanger grasped her husband's arm in sudden panic. "Simon, I--I
think as we should get off and go home with them. I--"

"Now, now, mamma, don't get excited! No, no, you mustn't! We will keep
house fine for you until you come back. See, mamma! I have the key, and
everything's fixed. See, mamma! You got to go, mamma. Ray should see
Europe before she finds out there--there's just one thing that's better
than going to Europe. Please, mamma, don't get excited. I tell you we'll
have things fine when you come back. Won't we, Irving, won't we?"

"Ach, nothing in the house, Miriam."

"We got to get off now, Miriam dear, we got to. You can write us about
those things, Mrs. Binswanger--mamma. Come, Miriam!"

"Yes, yes, Irving. Now don't cry, mamma, please! When everybody is so
happy it's a sin to cry."

"Not a stitch on her wedding-day! All her clothes locked up here on the
boat! Let me open the top tray of the trunk, Miriam, and give you your
toothbrush and a few waists--Ach, nearly crazy I am! How I built for
that girl's wedding when it--"

"Come, mamma, come--"

They were jamming up the crowded stairway and out to the sun-washed
deck. Women in gay corsages and bright-colored veils strolled with an
air of immediate adjustment. Men already in steamer caps and tweeds
leaned against the railings. Travelers were rapidly separating
themselves from stay-at-homes. Already the near-side decks were lined
with faces, some wet-eyed and some smiling, and all with kerchiefs or
small flags ready for adieus.

"All off! All off!"

"Good-by, mamma darling. Don't worry!"

"Irving, you be good to my Miriam. It's just like you got from me a
piece of my heart. Be good to my baby, Irving. Be good!"

Ray tugged at her mother's skirts. "'Sh-h-h-h, mamma, the whole boat
don't need to know."

"Be good to her, Irving!"

"Like I--just like I could be anything else to her, mamma!"

"Good-by, mamma darling. Don't cry so