"I'll keep close watch on him, Mrs. Bonner," promised Anderson, "and
telegraph you if his condition changes a mite. I ast 'Doc' Smith to-day
to tell me the real truth 'bout him, an'--"

"The real truth? What do you mean?" she cried, in fresh alarm.

"Don't worry, ma'am. He's improvin' fine, 'doc' says. He told me he'd be
out o' danger when he got back to Boston. His heart's worryin' 'doc' a
little. I ast 'im to speak plain an' tell me jest how bad it's affected.
He said: 'At present, only the left ventricle--whatever that be--only
the left one is punctured, but the right one seems to need a change of
air.'"

CHAPTER XXVII

The Grin Derisive

"I like your ma," said Anderson to Wicker, later in the evening. "She's
a perfect lady. Doggone, it's a relief to see a rich woman that knows
how to be a lady. She ain't a bit stuck up an' yet she's a reg'lar
aristocrat. Did I ever tell you about what happened to Judge
Courtwright's wife? No? Well, it was a long time ago, right here in
Tinkletown. The judge concluded this would be a good place fer a summer
home--so him an' her put up a grand residence down there on the river
bluff. It was the only summer place on this side of the river. Well, of
course Mrs. Courtwright had to turn in an' be the leader of the women in
this place. She lorded it over 'em an' she give 'em to understand that
she was a queen er somethin' like that an' they was nothin' but
peasants. An' the derned fool women 'lowed her to do it, too. Seems as
though her great-grandfather was a 'squire over in England, an' she had
a right to be swell. Well, she ruled the roost fer two summers an'
nobody could get near her without a special dispensation from the
Almighty. She wouldn't look at anybody with her eyes; her chin was so
high in the air that she had to look through her nose.

"Her husband was as old as Methoosalum--that is, he was as old as
Methoosalum was when he was a boy, so to speak--an' she had him skeered
of his life. But I fixed her. At the end of the second summer she was
ready to git up an' git, duke er no duke. Lemme me give you a tip, Wick.
If you want to fetch a queen down to your level, jest let her know
you're laughin' at her. Well, sir, the judge's wife used to turn up her
nose at me until I got to feelin' too small to be seen. My pride was
wallerin' in the dust. Finally, I thought of a scheme to fix her. Every
time I saw her, I'd grin at her--not sayin' a word, mind you, but jest
lo