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"About me! Why, what could he say about me?"

"Oh, all this and that"

"But what did he find to say?"

"Well, he heard her tellin' you how you oughtn't to sarettes and all about hoas killin' you, and you sayin' you guessed it wouldn't matter if you did die, and Aunt Julia sayin' 'Oh, you don't mean that,' and all this and such and so on, you know He can hear anything on the porch pretty good from the lib'ary; and Florence told rass and all She told Great-Uncle Joe and Aunt Hattie about it, too"

"My heavens!" Noble gasped, as for the first tily hushed and ulped, flushed, repeated "My heavens!" and then was able to add, with a feeble suggestion of lightness: "I suppose your grandfather understood it was just a sort of joke, didn't he?"

"No," said Herbert, and continued in a friendly way, for he was flattered by Noble's interest in his re for him "No He said Aunt Julia only talked like that because she couldn't think of anything else to say, and it earin' hiood it did was to make you smoke more to make her think how reckless you were; but the worst part of it was, he'd be the only one to suffer, because it blows all through the house and he's got to sit in it He said he just could stand the sarettes, but if you burned any oin' to ask your father to raise your salary for collectin' real-estate rents, so't you'd feel able to buy some real tobacco He----"

But the flushed listener felt that he had heard as much as he was called upon to bear; and he interrupted, in a voice al on don" His young friend, diverted froness to continue the narrative indefinitely, evidently being in possession of copious ht detained hi?"

"Who?"

"Your Aunt Julia"

"Why, I didn't say she lost any earring," Herbert returned "I said she alas losin' 'em: I didn't say she did"