"The sky, then!" Lucia affirmed.

But Uncle Henry merely repeated "The sky!" in whole-hearted disgust.

Lucia refused to be downed. "But think of the glorious colors--blue and
gold and purple!"

"And no grass nor nothin'," the invalid retorted. "Not even a place to go
fishin'. And you call it beau--Say, was you ever in Bangor?"

Gilbert roared with laughter; but Lucia took the old boy seriously.
"Bangor?" she repeated, wonderingly.

"Yes. Bangor, Maine. Now there's a place as is beau--Take the town hall,
for instance. And the Soldiers' Monument. And the cemetery. They got the
swellest cemetery in Bangor you ever--." Gilbert was almost doubling up
with laughter; but Uncle Henry went right on: "As for this gol darn place,
I wish it was in--An' it wouldn't have fur to go, neither!" he added,
emphatically, smiling at his own humor. "I wisht I was back in Maine!
There's where I was always so happy!"

By this time Lucia was smiling too. She went over and shook her finger
gently in the invalid's face. "You're cross just because you're hungry!"

"I ain't neither!" Smith replied, like a little boy.

"Yes, you are!" Lucia kept on.

"I ain't!"