house came home at four-thirty and caught him at it.

"That's going to be ever so much nicer," she called graciously, not
recognizing him from the view of his industrious-appearing back.

"Thank you for those few kind words."

"You!" she exclaimed indignantly as he turned a mild and benevolent beam
of the eye upon her. "What are you doing to my house?"

"Art. High art."

"How did you get up there?"

"Ladder. High ladder."

"You know that isn't what I mean at all."

"Oh! Well, I've taken a contract to tone down the Midway aspect of your
highly respectable residence. One hour per day."

"If you think that this performance is going to do you any good--" she
began with withering intonation.

"It's done that already," he hastened to assert. "You've recognized my
existence again."

"Only through trickery."

"On the contrary, it's no trick at all to improve on the Mordaunt