landing, and they will allow no one to disembark who does not express
himself in sufficiently ecstatic terms about the great cataract. You
will draw up a set of adjectives, which I will give to the Indians,
instructing them to allow no one to land who does not use at least three
out of five of them in referring to the falls. People whose eloquent
appreciation does not reach the required altitude will have to stay
there till it does, that's all. We will treat them as we do our
juries--starve them into a verdict, and the right verdict at that."

"Don't mind him, Eva. He is just trying to exasperate you. Think of what
I have to put up with. He goes on like that all the time," said Mrs.
Mason.

"Really, my dear, your flattery confuses me. You can't persuade any one
that I keep up this brilliancy in the privacy of my own house. It is
only turned on for company."

"Why, Mr. Mason, I didn't think you looked on me as company. I thought I
enjoyed the friendship of the Mason family."

"Oh, you do, you do indeed! The company I referred to was the official
party which has just gone to the falls. This is some of the brilliancy
left over. But, really, you had better stay after coming all this
distance."

"Yes, do, Eva. Let me go back with you to the Three Rivers, and then you
stay with me till next week, when you can visit the falls all alone. It
is very pleasant at Three Rivers just now. And besides, we can go for a
day's shopping at Montreal."