thus," he said, addressing the ceiling with sad reproach.
"Women are born ungrateful, and continue so. Here am I, wasting this
delightful afternoon in attempting to soothe a sister's savage breast by
sweet strains of heavenly music, and she----"

With a laugh, she sprang from her seat and went for him. There was a
short and fierce struggle, during which the banjo was whirled hither and
thither; then he got her down on the floor, sat upon her, and
deliberately resumed pecking out the "Old Folks at Home."

"Let me get up, Dick! Let me get up this instant!" she cried indignantly
and breathlessly. "The man's waiting for the book. Dick, do you hear?
I'll pinch you--I'll crumple your collar! I'll burn that beast of a
banjo directly you've gone out. Dick, I'm sure you're hurting me
seriously. Di-ck! I've got a pain! Oh, you wait until you've gone out!
I'll light the fire with that thing! Get up!"

Without a change of countenance, as if he were deaf to her entreaties
and threats, he tuned up the banjo, and played a breakdown.

"Comfortable, Nell? That's right. Always strive for contentment,
whatever your lot may be. At present your lot is to provide me with a
nice, springy seat, and it will so continue to be until you promise--on
your honor, mind--that you will not lay a destructive hand on this
sweetest of instruments."

"Oh, let me get up, Dick!"

"Until I receive that promise, and an abject apology, it is a case of
_j'y suis, j'y reste_, my child," he responded blandly.

She panted and struggled for a moment or two, then she gasped:

"I--I promise!"

"On your word of honor?"

"Yes, yes! Dick, you are breaking my ribs or something."

"Corset, perhaps," he suggested. "And the apology? A verbal one will
suffice on this occasion, accompanied by the sum of one shilling for the
purchase of cigarettes."

"I shan't! You never said a word about a shilling!"

"I did not--I hadn't time; but I shall now have time to make it two."

The door opened, and a servant with a moon-shaped face and prominent
eyes looked in. She did not seem at all surprised at the state of
affairs--did not even smile.

"The butcher's man says shall he wait any longer, miss?"

"Yes, tell him to wait, Molly," said the boy. "Miss Nell is tired, and
is lying down for a little while; resting, you know."

"I--I promise! I apologize! You--you shall have the shilling!" gasped
the girl, half angrily, half haughtily.

He rose in a leisurely fashion, g