oked queer. "Yes, I mind," he said.

"But you wouldn't be engaged to her yourself," I propounded to him; and
he grinned, and said something about more things in heaven and earth,
and called me Horatio. I reckon he got struck crazy a minute. And then
he made me tell him further what Peggy said and what I said, and he
laughed that time about my comforting her, though I don't see why. It
doesn't pay to give up important things, to be kind and thoughtful in
this world--nobody appreciates it, and you are sure to be sorry you
took the time. When I got up-stairs, after comforting Peggy, my toad had
jumped in the water-pitcher and got about drowned--he never was the same
toad after--and if I hadn't stopped in Peg's room to do good it wouldn't
have happened. And Dr. Denbigh laughed at me besides. However, for an
old chap of forty, he's a peach. I'm not kicking at Dr. Denbigh.

Then let's see--(It makes me tired to go on writing this stuff--I wish
I was through. But the cookies! I see a vision of a mountain range of
cookies with currants on them--crumbly cookies. Up and at it again for
me!)

The next stunt I had a shy at was a letter that Harry Goward asked Alice
to give Peggy, and Alice gave it to me because she was up to something
else just that minute. She didn't look at the address, but you bet your
sweet life I did, when I heard it was from Harry Goward. I saw it was
addressed to Peg. Then I stuffed it in my pocket and plain forgot,
because I was in a hurry to go fishing with Sid Tracy. I put a chub on
top of it that I wanted to keep for bait, and when I pulled it out--the
letter--the chub hadn't helped much. The envelope was a little slimy. I
said: "Gee!"

Sid said: "What's that?"

"A letter to my sister from that chump. Harry Goward," said I. "I've got
to take it to her. Looks pretty sad now."

Sid didn't like Harry Goward any more than I did, because he'd borrowed
Sid's best racket and left it out in the rain, and then just laughed. So
he said: "Not sad enough. Give it to me. I'll fix it."

He had some molasses candy that he'd bit, and he rubbed that over it
a little, and then suddenly we heard Alice calling, and he crammed the
letter in his pocket, candy and all, and there were some other things
in there that stuck to it. We were so rattled when Alice appeared and
demanded that very letter in her lordly way that I forgot if I had it
or Sid, and I went all through my clothes looking for it, and then Sid
found it i