foot of the mountains where you live, and remarked that you made no
great pretence in the clothes you wore, in fact, that I thought you went
just a little bit too careless for a man as young and well-off as you
are."

"Huh, you told her that, did you?" Henley's cheeks reddened against his
will. "Well, I don't go much on style, in hot weather, anyway. I never
did want to be called a dude."

"Of course not, but what you reckon she done? She leaned back in her
chair while I was a-talking an' laughed like she'd bust herself wide
open. She pointed down at my new tan shoes and green socks and wanted to
know if things like them was style, and asked me why I kept my gloves on
in the house. She wanted to know if I let my yaller-bordered
handkerchief stick out of my upper pocket because I was afraid folks
wouldn't see it, an' if I kept a cheaper one to blow my nose on. You may
know, Alf, that all the good-dressers here at Carlton--and I pride
myself I'm amongst 'em--have their suits pressed once a week to make 'em
set right, but she said my pant-legs looked like they was lined with
pasteboard, and that my high collar looked like a cuff upside down. Of
course, I couldn't get mad, for she was joking all through, and laughin'
pleasant-like. But, Alf, I must say she's fallin' off in her meal
record. You know she made such a fine spread the first time that I
naturally expected some'n out of the common again. I saved myself up for
it. I didn't take on a big breakfast before I left home because I told
myself, I did, that I'd appreciate her fine fixings all the more. So you
can imagine how I felt when she marched me out, with them old women, and
set me down to--well, a body oughtn't to criticise what's set before 'em
in a friend's house, but, Alf, that really was the limit. I can tell you
just exactly what we had. I'll never forget it. It was plain pork and
beans, and boiled cabbage, and sliced tomatoes, and hard cornbread. She
hadn't put a sign of an egg in it, and cornbread without eggs ain't fit
to eat. It looks like Mrs. Hart had had some dispute with Dixie about
it, too, for the old lady kept whining and telling me it wasn't her
fault, that she thought Dixie was going to set in and fix up proper, but
that Dixie wouldn't listen to reason, and why, the old lady said, she
was unable to understand, for the like had never happened before. Dixie
didn't make any excuses, but set at the head of the table and dished out
that stuff as if it