ed the handle of the spoon so that the brown liquor was deposited
within her son.

"There!" she repeated triumphantly. "It wasn't so bad after all, was
it?"

Penrod did not reply. His expression had become odd, and the oddity of
his manner was equal to that of his expression. Uttering no sound, he
seemed to distend, as if he had suddenly become a pneumatic boy under
dangerous pressure. Meanwhile, his reddening eyes, fixed awfully upon
his mother, grew unbearable.

"Now, it wasn't such a bad taste," Mrs. Schofield said rather nervously.
"Don't go acting THAT way, Penrod!"

But Penrod could not help himself. In truth, even a grown person
hardened to all manner of flavours, and able to eat caviar or liquid
Camembert, would have found the cloudy brown liquor virulently
repulsive. It contained in solution, with other things, the vital
element of surprise, for it was comparatively odourless, and, unlike the
chivalrous rattlesnake, gave no warning of what it was about to do. In
the case of Penrod, the surprise was complete and its effect visibly
shocking.

The distention by which he began to express his emotion appeared to
be increasing; his slender throat swelled as his cheeks puffed. His
shoulders rose toward his ears; he lifted his right leg in an unnatural
way and held it rigidly in the air.

"Stop that, Penrod!" Mrs. Schofield commanded. "You stop it!"

He found his voice.

"Uff! OOOFF!" he said thickly, and collapsed--a mere, ordinary,
every-day convulsion taking the place of his pneumatic symptoms. He
began to writhe, at the same time opening and closing his mouth rapidly
and repeatedly, waving his arms, stamping on the floor.

"Ow! Ow-ow-OW!" he vociferated.

Reassured by these normal demonstrations, of a type with which she was
familiar, Mrs. Schofield resumed her fond smile.

"YOU'RE all right, little boysie!" she said heartily. Then, picking up
the bottle, she replenished the tablespoon, and told Penrod something
she had considered it undiplomatic to mention before.

"Here's the other one," she said sweetly.

"Uuf!" he sputtered. "Other--uh--what?"

"Two tablespoons before each meal," she informed him.

Instantly Penrod made the first of a series of passionate efforts to
leave the room. His determination was so intense and the manifestations
of it were so ruthless, that Mrs. Schofield, exhausted, found herself
obliged to call for the official head of the house--in fact, she found
herself obliged