Burns chuckled. "Won't they? By George, I wish they wouldn't! Then I
could find time to spend an uninterrupted hour with my wife, at least
once a day."

"Do be reasonable, Red. Ellen, will you make him see it's a very simple
thing I'm asking of him? Just to stand by you and shake hands for a
couple of hours. Then he can go out and stand on his head on the lawn,
if he wants to."

"To relieve the tension?" her victim suggested. "That's an excellent
idea--real compensation. But as the blood will be all at the top, anyway,
after two hours' effort at being agreeable, saying the same idiotic
things over and over, and grinning steadily all the time, I think I'd
prefer soaking my head under a pump."

"Do what pleases you, if you'll only let me have my way."

Burns looked at Ellen again. "What do you say, dear? Must these things
be? Do you want to be 'received'?"

"Martha has set her heart on it," said she, gently, "and it's very dear
of her to want to take the trouble. She promises really to make it very
informal."

"Informal! I wish I knew what that word meant. Don't I have to wear my
spike-tail?"

"I'm afraid you do--since Martha wants it in the evening. The men in a
place like this are not available for afternoon affairs."