ly angry. Indeed, I have since thought that much of what
followed was due to the loss of the luncheon, which the firemen declared
they had not seen, although Aggie was positive she saw one of them
eating one of the doughnuts that afternoon behind a newspaper.

But, worst of all, Tish's hat was missing. It reappeared later, however,
but was brought in by the engine house dog, after having been run over
by the Chief's machine, two engines and a ladder truck.

As I say, that was part of her irritation, but what really upset her was
the number of married men. More than once, as she grew excited, I heard
her say:

"Married? How many wives?"

When of course she meant how many children.

She had registered twenty-four married men and two single ones by one
o'clock, and she was looking very discouraged. But at one o'clock the
clerk from the shoe store at the corner came in, and said he had
dependent on him a wife, four children, a mother-in-law, a sister-in-law
and his sister-in-law's husband.

"Of course," Tish said bitterly, "you claim exemption."

"Me?" he said. "Me, Miss Carberry? My God, no."

Well, about two o'clock Charlie Sands came in. Tish saw him the moment
he entered the door, and stopped work to watch him. But he made no
attempt to register. He said he was doing a column of slackers for the
next morning's paper.

"There's aren't many," he said, "but of course there are some. The
license court is the place to nail them."

"Do you mean to tell me," Tish demanded, "that there are traitors in
this country who are getting married _today_?"

"There are," said Charlie Sands, sitting down on the fire truck. "Even
so, beloved aunt. They are getting married so they can claim exemption
because of a dependent wife. And I'll bet the orphan asylums are full of
fellows trying to get ready-made families."

Tish is a composed and self-restrained woman, but she spoke so
distinctly of how she felt about such conduct that Charlie Murray, our
grocer's assistant, who has four children, did not so much as mention
them when she made out his card.

"Of course," Charlie Sands observed, "I don't want to dictate to you,
because you're doing all that can be expected of you now. But if some
one would go to the license court and tell those fellows a bit of
wholesome truth, it might be valuable."

"You do it, Lizzie," Tish said.

"I? I never made a speech in my life, Tish Carberry, and you know it."

"And I never before tried