saying, The Mussuck dilated.'

'I think I can see him doing it,' said Mrs. Mallowe pensively,
scratching her fox-terrier's ears.

'I was properly impressed. Most properly. I yawned openly. ''Strict
supervision, and play them off one against the other," said The
Mussuck, shovelling down his ice by tureenfuls, I assure you.
''That, Mrs. Hauksbee, is the secret of our Government." '

Mrs. Mallowe laughed long and merrily. 'And what did you say?'

'Did you ever know me at loss for an answer yet? I said: ''So I have
observed in my dealings with you." The Mussuck swelled with
pride. He is coming to call on me to-morrow. The Hawley Boy is
coming too.'

' ''Strict supervision and play them off one against the other. That,
Mrs. Hauksbee, is the secret of our Government." And I daresay if
we could get to The Mussuck's heart, we should find that he
considers himself a man of the world.'

'As he is of the other two things. I like The

Mussuck, and I won't have you call him names. He amuses me.'

'He has reformed you, too, by what appears. Explain the interval of
sanity, and hit Tim on the nose with the paper-cutter, please. That
dog is too fond of sugar. Do you take milk in yours?'