ees down below. She didn't warm up to
Simeon and me much; eyed us over through a pair of gilt spyglasses, and
admitted that she was 'charmed, I'm sure.' Likewise, she was afflicted
with 'nerves,' which must be a divil of a disease--for everybody but the
patient, especial.

"Archie--his ma hailed him as 'Archibald, dear'--showed up pretty
soon in tow of his 'maid,' a sweet-faced, tired-out Irish girl named
Margaret. 'Archibald, dear,' was five years old or so, sufferin' from
curls and the lack of a lickin'. I never see a young one that needed a
strap ile more.

"'How d'ye do Archie?' says Simeon, holdin' out his hand.

"Archie didn't take the hand. Instead of that he points at Phinney and
commences to laugh.

"'Ho, ho!' says he, dancin' and pointin'. 'Look at the funny whiskers.'

"Sim wa'n't expectin' that, and it set him all aback, like he'd run into
a head squall. He took hold of his beard and looked foolish. Sam and
Grace looked ashamed and mad. Cousin Harriet laughed one of her lazy
laughs.

"'Archibald, de-ar,' she drawls, 'you mustn't speak that way. Now be
nice, and play with Margaret durin' dinner, that's a good boy.'

"'I won't,' remarks Archie, cheerful. 'I'm goin' to dine with you,
mama.'

"'Oh, no, you're not, dear. You'll have your own little table, and--'

"Then 'twas' Hi, yi!' 'Bow, wow!' Archibald wa'n't hankerin' for little
tables. He was goin' to eat with us, that's what. His ma, she argued
with him and pleaded, and he yelled and stamped and hurrahed. When
Margaret tried to soothe him he went at her like a wild-cat, and kicked
and pounded her sinful. She tried to take him out of the room, and then
Cousin Harriet come down on her like a scow load of brick.

"'Haven't I told you,' says she, sharp and vinegary, 'not to oppose the
child in that way? Archibald has such a sensitive nature,' she says to
Grace, 'that opposition arouses him just as it did me at his age. Very
well, dear; you MAY dine with us to-night, if you wish. Oh, my poor
nerves! Margaret, why don't you place a chair for Master Archibald? The
creature is absolutely stupid at times,' she says, talkin' about that
poor maid afore her face with no more thought for her feelin's than
if she was a wooden image. 'She has no tact whatever. I wouldn't have
Archibald's spirit broken for anything.'

"'Twas his neck that needed breakin' if you asked ME. That was a joyful
meal, now I tell you.

"There was more joy when 'twas over. Archie di