Mr. Van Brandt he asked her to take him an' everything he had
(that's what he said! "Take me an' everything I have, an' do what you
want with me!"), Miss Lang she said, "No, Bob, I can't! I wish I could,
for your sake, if you want me so--but--I can't." An' Mr. Van Brandt he
felt so bad, I was sorry. When I thought Miss Lang was his best girl, I
didn't like him, but I didn't want him to feel as bad as that. An' he
went off all alone by himself, an' Miss Lang--'Only I couldn't tell any
more, for my Uncle Frank, he said reel sharp, 'That's enough,
Radcliffe!' But last night he brought me home a dandy boat I can sail on
the Lake, with riggin' an' a center-board, an', O, lots o' things! An'
so I guess he wasn't so very mad, after all."

CHAPTER XVI

"Most like it's the Spring," said Martha. It was Memorial Day. She and
Miss Lang were at home, sitting together in Claire's pretty room,
through the closed blinds of which the hot May sun sent tempered shafts
of light.

Claire regarded Mrs. Slawson steadily for a moment, seeming to make some
sort of mental calculation meanwhile.

"Well, if it _is_ the Spring," she observed at length with a whimsical
little frown knitting her brows, "it's mighty forehanded, for it began
to get in its fine work as far back as January. Ever since the time Sam
went to the Sanatorium you've been losing flesh and color, Martha,
and--I don't know what to do about it!"

"Do about it!" repeated Mrs. Slawson. "Why, there ain't nothin' _to_ do
about it, but let the good work go on. I'm in luck, if it's true what
you say. Believe _me_, there's lots o' ladies in this town, is starvin'
their stummicks an' everythin' else about 'em, an' payin' the doctors
high besides, just to get delicate-complected, an' airy-fairy figgers,
same's I'm doin' without turnin' a hand. Did you never hear o' bantin'?
It's what the high-toned doctors recommend to thin down ladies who have
it so comfortable they're uncomfortable. The doctors prescribes exercise
for'm, an' they take it, willin' as doves, whereas if their husbands
said, 'Say, old woman, while you're restin', just scrub down the
cellar-stairs good--that'll take the flesh off'n you quicker'n anythin'
else _I_ know!' they'd get a divorce from him so quick you couldn't see
'em for dust. No, they'd not do anythin' so low as cellar-stairs, to
save their lives. You couldn't please 'em better'n to see another woman
down on her marra-bones workin' for 'em, but get