he loved him to
tease her. How strange! She felt a hundred years older than Toby, and
yet she felt like a little girl. And when she was with him she did not
have to mind her tongue, but could be as slangy and as natural as she
pleased. Toby did not know any better. She had not always to be
thinking, with him, of what a real lady might be expected to say. He was
a relaxation for her.

"That's right," she said. "Flatter me. Make me get swelled head. Don't
think of the consequences. Ladle it out. Tell me I look a little
princess."

"No, Sally. I wouldn't do that," answered Toby, possessively. "I don't
want you to get above yourself. You're a bit uppish as it is. Noticed
it? Well, I have. And that's a thing I want to talk to you about."

"Oh," said Sally in a dangerous tone. "What is? Look, there's a bus!"

With Sally's nimbleness and Toby's muscle they obtained seats upon the
top of the bus, and, seated together, resumed their conversation in low,
grumbling tones. She first repeated her question with new
aggressiveness, not at all deterred from the possibility of a row by her
delight in Toby's company.

"About you," said Toby. "You see, smartness is all very well; but if
you're going to be a sailor's wife you got to look where you're going.
Now, your last letter. It said you was being a good girl, and taking
evening classes--that's because I told you my aunt see you out with a
fellow one night, coming from the schools. Now what the Hell's the good
of evening classes to a sailor's wife; and who _is_ this fellow aunt
seen you with?"

"I suppose even a sailor's wife wants to know how to cook," remarked
Sally.

"Oh cooking," grimly said Toby. "Does the fellow learn cooking, too?"

Sally was impudent. She was enjoying herself. She rejoiced that he
should be so jealous and authoritative when she knew that she could
always play with him.

"I don't know which fellow your aunt saw," she answered flippantly.
"There's so many of them at the classes. I can't tell which it might be.
Did she tell you what he was like?"

"She told me you was arm in arm."

"That's a lie," said Sally, curtly. "Nosey old cat. She never saw me arm
in arm with anybody. And even if I had been, what business is it of
hers? What does she know about me? About me and you?"

"She see us last time I was home. See us twice. That's why she told me
about you and this other fellow. See? She says--that girl I see you with
seems to have got another young m