ed, "now
wade in, and don't be afeard. I don't mind the old woman. She don't
b'long to ME. S'long."

He had stepped to the threshold of a small room, scarcely larger than a
closet, partitioned off from the main apartment, and holding in its dim
recess a small bed. He stood there a moment looking at the company, his
bare feet peeping from the blanket, and nodded.

"Hello, Johnny! You ain't goin' to turn in agin, are ye?" said Dick.

"Yes, I are," responded Johnny, decidedly.

"Why, wot's up, old fellow?"

"I'm sick."

"How sick!"

"I've got a fevier. And childblains. And roomatiz," returned Johnny,
and vanished within. After a moment's pause, he added in the dark,
apparently from under the bedclothes,--"And biles!"

There was an embarrassing silence. The men looked at each other, and at
the fire. Even with the appetizing banquet before them, it seemed as if
they might again fall into the despondency of Thompson's grocery, when
the voice of the Old Man, incautiously lifted, came deprecatingly from
the kitchen.

"Certainly! Thet's so. In course they is. A gang o' lazy drunken
loafers, and that ar Dick Bullen's the ornariest of all. Didn't hev
no more sabe than to come round yar with sickness in the house and no
provision. Thet's what I said: 'Bullen,' sez I, 'it's crazy drunk you
are, or a fool,' sez I, 'to think o' such a thing.' 'Staples,' I sez,
'be you a man, Staples, and 'spect to raise h-ll under my roof and
invalids lyin' round?' But they would come,--they would. Thet's wot you
must 'spect o' such trash as lays round the Bar."

A burst of laughter from the men followed this unfortunate exposure.
Whether it was overheard in the kitchen, or whether the Old Man's irate
companion had just then exhausted all other modes of expressing her
contemptuous indignation, I cannot say, but a back door was suddenly
slammed with great violence. A moment later and the Old Man reappeared,
haply unconscious of the cause of the late hilarious outburst, and
smiled blandly.

"The old woman thought she'd jest run over to Mrs. McFadden's for a
sociable call," he explained, with jaunty indifference, as he took a
seat at the board.

Oddly enough it needed this untoward incident to relieve the
embarrassment that was beginning to be felt by the party, and their
natural audacity returned with their host. I do not propose to record
the convivialities of that evening. The inquisitive reader will accept
the statement that the conv