yell of
terror he bolted out to the kitchen, out of the kitchen into the hall,
through the hall into the room, and so into the kitchen and round again.
With each circuit he went faster and faster, until he looked like a
brindled streak with a dash of black and white on top. Such a racket
and commotion I never heard, and I laughed until the tears came into
my eyes. Mr. Riley flew around and around, and William Adolphus held on
grimly and clawed. Alexander Abraham turned purple with rage.

"Woman, call off that infernal cat before he kills my dog," he shouted
above the din of yelps and yowls.

"Oh, he won't kill min," I said reassuringly, "and he's going too fast
to hear me if I did call him. If you can stop the dog, Mr. Bennett, I'll
guarantee to make William Adolphus listen to reason, but there's no use
trying to argue with a lightning flash."

Alexander Abraham made a frantic lunge at the brindled streak as it
whirled past him, with the result that he overbalanced himself and went
sprawling on the floor with a crash. I ran to help him up, which only
seemed to enrage him further.

"Woman," he spluttered viciously, "I wish you and your fiend of a cat
were in--in--"

"In Avonlea," I finished quickly, to save Alexander Abraham from
committing profanity. "So do I, Mr. Bennett, with all my heart. But
since we are not, let us make the best of it like sensible people. And
in future you will kindly remember that my name is Miss MacPherson, NOT
Woman!"

With this the end came and I was thankful, for the noise those two
animals made was so terrific that I expected the policeman would be
rushing in, smallpox or no smallpox, to see if Alexander Abraham and I
were trying to murder each other. Mr. Riley suddenly veered in his mad
career and bolted into a dark corner between the stove and the wood-box,
William Adolphus let go just in time.

There never was any more trouble with Mr. Riley after that. A meeker,
more thoroughly chastened dog you could not find. William Adolphus had
the best of it and he kept it.

Seeing that things had calmed down and that it was five o'clock I
decided to get tea. I told Alexander Abraham that I would prepare it, if
he would show me where the eatables were.

"You needn't mind," said Alexander Abraham. "I've been in the habit of
getting my own tea for twenty years."

"I daresay. But you haven't been in the habit of getting mine," I said
firmly. "I wouldn't eat anything you cooked if I starve