Baxter thoughtfully continued her sprinkling.

"You've been gone all morning, Willie," she said. "I thought your father
mentioned at breakfast that he expected you to put in at least four
hours a day on your mathematics and--"

"That's neither here nor there," William returned, vehemently. "I just
want to say this: if you don't do something about Jane, I will! Just
look at her! LOOK at her, I ask you! That's just the way she looked half
an hour ago, out on the public sidewalk in front of the house, when
I came by here with Miss PRATT! That was pleasant, wasn't it? To be
walking with a lady on the public street and meet a member of my family
looking like that! Oh, LOVELY!"

In the anguish of this recollection his voice cracked, and though his
eyes were dry his gestures wept for him. Plainly, he was about to reach
the most lamentable portion of his narrative. "And then she HOLLERED at
me! She hollered, 'Oh, WILL--EE!'" Here he gave an imitation of Jane's
voice, so damnatory that Jane ceased to eat for several moments and drew
herself up with a kind of dignity. "She hollered, 'Oh, WILL--EE' at
me!" he stormed. "Anybody would think I was about six years old! She
hollered, 'Oh, Will--ee,' and she rubbed her stomach and slushed apple
sauce all over her face, and she kept hollering, 'Will--ee!' with her
mouth full. 'Will--ee, look! Good! Bread-and-butter and apple sauce and
sugar! I bet you wish YOU had some, Will--ee!'"

"You did eat some, the other day," said Jane. "You ate a whole lot. You
eat it every chance you get!"

"You hush up!" he shouted, and returned to his description of the