st:

"Perhaps it _would_ be better for us rough-necks to eat at the second
table. It hadn't occurred to me that our society might not be agreeable
to ladies and gentlemen. I'm glad you mentioned it."

Hicks seemed to purr, actually. His tone was caressing--like the velvet
touch of a tiger--and his humble acceptance of the situation was so
unnatural that Wallie felt himself shiver with apprehension. Was he
capable of putting ground-glass in the sugar, he wondered, or dropping a
spider in something?

"Red" was plainly disgruntled when he found himself, as it were,
segregated, and he sulked openly; but Hicks, on the contrary, was so
urbane and respectful that everyone remarked his changed manner, and
Mrs. Stott triumphantly demanded to know if it were not proof of her
contention that servants were the better for being occasionally reminded
of their position.

"I am not a snob," she reiterated, "but common people really spoil my
appetite when I am obliged to eat with them."

Wallie, however, could not share her elation, for there was that in Mr.
Hicks' eye whenever he met it which renewed his uneasy forebodings as to
ground glass and spiders.

CHAPTER XXIV

HICKS THE AVENGER

The remarkable change in Mr. Hicks' manner continued the next morning.
It was so radical that no one could fail to observe it and the comments
were frequent, while Mrs. Stott crowed openly.

From haughty independence he had become so anxious to please that he was
almost servile, and his manner toward the wife of the rising young
attorney particularly was that of a humble retainer fawning at the feet
of royalty. During breakfast he stood at a respectful distance, speaking
only when spoken to, and jumping to serve them.

This attitude quickly dissipated the fear which he had inspired in The
Happy Family, and by noon they were not only calling him "Hicks" but
"Ellery." Then, this stage of familiarity having been passed in safety,
Mr. Stott humorously dubbed him "Cookie," and the name was adopted by
everyone.

Mrs. Budlong ventured to complain that there was too much shortening in
the biscuit. This was a real test of the sincerity of his reformation
since, if such a thing were possible, he had been even more "touchy"
upon the subject of his cooking than his dignity. No one could doubt
but that the change was genuine when he not only received the criticism
meekly but actually thanked her for calling his attention to it.

Thus encoura