"Supper's ready, supper's ready,
Hurry up or you'll be late.
Then you'll sure be cross an' heady,
If there's nothin' left to ate."

"Daniel, what in the world is the meaning of that?" she interrupted
sharply.

"That? Oh, that is Susan's--er--supper bell," shrugged the man, with a
little uneasy gesture.

"You mean that you've heard it before?--that that is her usual method
of summoning you to your meals?"

"Y-yes, when she's good-natured," returned the man, with a still more
uneasy shifting of his position. "Come, shall we go down?"

"DANIEL! And you stand it?"

"Oh, come, come! You don't understand--conditions here. Besides, I've
tried to stop it."

"TRIED to stop it!"

"Yes. Oh, well, try yourself, if you think it's so easy. I give you my
full and free permission. Try it."

"TRY it! I shan't TRY anything of the sort. I shall STOP it."