excellent taste; she was neatly gloved and
booted. She gave an impression of smoothness and finish. In her right
hand she carried a tiny purse, which she loosened carelessly from time
to time, letting it swing by its chain, and catching it again with a
graceful gesture.

"The town may have changed," she remarked, when Amzi came back and put
her into the dingy carriage, "but the hacks haven't. I recall the faint
bouquet of old times. That must be the court-house clock," she
continued, peeping from the window. "They were building the new
courthouse about the time I left. I miss something; it must be the old
familiar jiggle of the streets. Asphalt? Really! I suppose the good
citizens have screamed and protested at the improvements, as good
citizens always do. It's stuffy in here. If you don't mind, Amzi, we'll
have some air."

She gave the strap a jerk and the window dropped with a bang.

"How's your asthma these days? You never speak of yourself in your
letters, and when I saw you in Chicago I didn't like your wheeze."

"Thunder! I haven't got the asthma. I'm as fit as a fiddle. Doctors tell
me to watch my blood pressure and cut off my toddies. Remember? I used
to like 'em pretty well."

"Verily you did!"--and she laughed merrily. "You used to mix a toddy
about once a month as near as I can remember. Frightful dissipation!
Unless you've changed mightily, you're a model, Amzi; a figure to point
young men and maidens to. Whee!" she exclaimed as the hack rattled
across the interurban track in Main Street, "behold the lights! Not so
different from Paris after all. What did I see there--Hastings's
Theater? Didn't that use to be the Grand Opera House? What a fall, my
countrymen! That must be where our illustrious brother-in-law holds
forth in royal splendor. What's his first name, Amzi?"

"Lawr_i_nce," he replied, and she saw him grin broadly as the light from
an overhead lamp shone upon them. "That's what Phil calls him."

"Phil's at home, of course?"

This was her first reference to Phil, and she had spoken of her
daughter carelessly, casually. Amzi shuffled his feet on the hack floor.

"I guess Phil's back; she's been in Indianapolis. Phil's all right.
There's nothing the matter with Phil."

He was so used to declaring Phil's all-rightness to his other sisters
that the defensive attitude was second nature. His tone was not lost
upon Lois and she replied quickly:--

"Of course, Phil's all right; I just wondered w