e
night, mutely inviting "Forty-niner" to be seated. He declined the
proffered courtesy, so she sat down herself, and it amused him that
she had not once stopped that monotonous whisking of the eggs, though
by this time the dish was heaped with their frothy substance.

"The cake you make of them should be light enough," he remarked, with
a smile.

"You're right. There's such a thing as overbeatin'--everything. Well,
laddies, we're all back in here together again, and auntie wants you
to tell Mr. Ma'sh where you got that candy; who give it to you; what
for; where you saw that sneaky snake, Antonio Bernal; what you've done
with the staff wand; and all the rest of it? 'Forty-niner' is a man
and a gentleman----"

"Here the sharpshooter bowed profoundly, acknowledging the compliment
with a humorous expression; but the matron continued as if she had
not observed him:

"You see, I know all about it, even if you wouldn't tell. I'm one has
eyes on the back of my head and on its top, too, I tell you, so you
needn't try to think I don't see what's going on, for I do."

The faces of her small listeners showed utter amazement; then with one
of his flashlike movements Ned sprang to the back of her chair and
passed his hand rapidly all over her gray curls.

"Where are they, Aunt Sally? I can't find 'em. I never saw 'em in all
my life, and do--do, please, show them to me!" he implored.

Luis scrambled up the other side, and echoed:

"Never show 'em in m'life!"

"That's all right. I don't keep 'em in exhibition, but they're there
all the same."

"Sally Benton!" expostulated Ephraim. "Don't tell them wrong
stories."

"But it isn't a wrong story; it's a right one. If they're not real,
actual eyes, there's something in my head takes their place. Might as
well say 'eyes' as 'brains,' I judge. But, be you going to answer,
Edward Trent? I've got a prime lot of cookin' to do again, and no time
to waste. 'Cause if you ain't I'll just take Mr. Ma'sh with me and
lock you shavers in here alone, where you'll be safe, but sort of
homesick. I shan't leave no candle burnin', for you to set the house
afire with. So you best tell, right away, and then be let out to have
a good time."

Luis began to whisper, and beg:

"Tell her, Ned. Tell her. I hate the dark--I do, I do!"

Ned hesitated but a moment longer. He loved his playmate as his own
soul, and it altered nothing of this childish David-and-Jonathan
friendship that it was as full