Emmeline Rowan, you're gettin' to be a reg'lar gadabout,"
said Mr. Rowan, very savagely. "Gad, gad, gad, from mornin' till night.
Ain't they time in daylight fer you an' Hat Waldo to talk about your
neighbors 'at you can't stay home long enough to git me my supper?"

He winked at the twins so funny that Alfaretta, who always was kind of
flighty, made a little noise with her soft palate and tried to pass it
off for a cough. Luanna May poked her in the ribs with her elbow, and
Mrs. Rowan spoke up quite loud: "Why, Pa, how you go on! I wasn't but
a minute, an' you hardly ever come before halfpast. And furthermore,
mister, I want to know how I'm to keep this house a-lookin' like
anything an' you a-trackin' in snow like that. Just look at you. I sh'd
think you'd know enough to stomp your feet before you come in.
Luanna May, you come grind the coffee. Alfie, run git your Pa his old
slippers." That set both of them to giggling, and Mrs. Rowan went out
into the kitchen and began to pound the beefsteak.

"D' you think she sispicioned anythin'?" asked Mr. Rowan out of one side
of his mouth, and Elmer Lonnie said, "No, sir," and wondered if his Pa
"sispicioned anythin"' when Ma said, "Run git the old slippers."

Mr. Waldo always walked up with Mr. Rowan, and just about that time his
little Mary Ellen was climbing up into his lap and saying: "I bet you
can't guess what I'm a-goin' to buy you for a Christmas gift with my
pennies what I got saved up."

"I'll just bet I can."

"No, you can't. It's awful pretty--I mean, they're awful pretty. Somepin
you want, too." How could he guess with her fingering his tarnished cuff
buttons and looking down at them every minute or two?

"Well, now, let me see. Is it a gold watch?"

"Nope."

"Aw, now! I jist set my heart on a gold watch and chain."

"Well, but it'd cost more money 'n I got. Three or fifteen dollars,
mebby."

"Well, let me see. Is it a shotgun?"

"No, sir. Oh, you just can't guess it."

"Is it a--a--Is it a horse and buggy?"

"Aw, now, you're foolin'. No, it ain't a horse and buggy."

"I know what it is. It's a dolly with real hair that you can comb, and
all dressed up in a blue dress. One that can shut its eyes when it goes
bye-bye."

Little Mary Ellen looks at him very seriously a minute, and sighs, and
says: "No, it ain't that. But if it was, wouldn't you let me play with
it when you was to the store?" And he catches her up in his arms and
says: "You betchy! No