"I knowed it!" caviled Lazy Daisy _sotto voce_ to no one in particular.
"He couldn't wait for the news till he was through eatin'!" But Abe had
folded the paper into a stout weapon, and, creeping toward the window,
despatched by a quick, adroit movement a fly which had alighted upon the
screen.

"I hate the very sight o' them air pesky critters," he explained half
apologetically. "Thar, thar's another one," and slaughtered that.

"My, but yew kin git 'em, can't yew?" spoke Miss Abigail admiringly.
"Them tew be the very ones I tried ter ketch all day yiste'day; I kin
see as a fly-ketcher yew be a-goin' ter be wuth a farm ter me. Set
deown an' try some o' this here strawberry presarve."

But Abe protested that he could not eat another bite unless he should
get up and run around the house to "joggle deown" what he had already
swallowed. He leaned back in his chair and surveyed the family: on his
right, generous-hearted Blossy, who had been smiling approval and
encouragement at him all through the repast; at his left, and just
beyond Angy, Miss Abigail indulging in what remained on the dishes now
that she discovered the others to have finished; Aunt Nancy keenly
watching him from the head of the board; and all the other sisters
"betwixt an' between."

He caught Mrs. Homan's eye where she stood in the doorway leading into
the kitchen, and remarked pleasantly: "Ma'am, yew oughter set up a
pancake shop in 'York. Yew could make a fortune at it. I hain't had sech
a meal o' vittles sence I turned fifty year o' age."

A flattered smile overspread Mrs. Homan's visage, and the other sisters,