were pretending they were shipwrecked; the swing was the vessel, if
you please!"

"I suppose she was trying to amuse him," Mrs. King said. "That's a
great mistake with children. Give a child a book, or put him down to
some useful task; that's my idea."

"Oh, she was amusing herself," William explained. Mrs. King was
silent.

"She gets up for breakfast now, on account of David; it's evidently a
great undertaking!" the doctor said humorously.

Martha held her lips hard together.

"You ought to hear her housekeeping ideas," William rambled on. "I
happened to say you wanted some lye for soap. She didn't know soap was
made with lye! You would have laughed to hear her--"

But at that the leash broke: "_Laughed_? I hope not! I hope I wouldn't
laugh because a woman of her age has no more sense than a child. And
she gets up for breakfast, does she? Well, why shouldn't she get up
for breakfast? I am very tired, but I get up for breakfast. I don't
mean to be severe, William, and I never am; I'm only just. But
I must say, flatly and frankly, that ignorance and laziness do not
seem _funny_ to me. Laugh? Would you laugh if I stayed in bed in
the mornings, and didn't know how to make soap, and save your money
for you? I guess not!"

The doctor's face reddened and he closed his lips with a snap. But