e for a bit--that 'ud be Mrs. Courage--and let me sit
there and be 'er, I could show 'er----"

The places were reversed. It was Letty who came in as Mrs. Courage,
while Steptoe, seated in the chair, lowered the paper to the degree
which he thought dignified. Letty mumbled something like the words the
hypothetical Mrs. Courage was presumed to use, while Steptoe slowly
threw back his head for the purchase, bringing it forward in
condescending grace. Language could not have given Mrs. Courage so
effective a retort courteous.

Letty was enchanted. "Oh, Steptoe, let me have another try. I believe
I could swing the cat."

Again the places were reversed. Steptoe having repeated the role of
Mrs. Courage, Letty imitated him as best she could in getting the
purchase for her bow and catching his air of high-bred condescension.

"Better," he approved, "if madam wouldn't lower 'er 'ead _quite_ so
far back'ard. You see, madam, a lydy don't _know_ she's throwin' back
'er 'ead so as to get a grip on it. She does it unconscious like,
because bein' of a 'aughty sperrit she 'olds it 'igh natural. If
madam'll only stiffen 'er neck like, as if sperrit 'ad made 'er about
two inches taller than she is----"

Having seized this idea, Letty tried again, with such success that
Mrs. Courage was disposed of. Jane Cakebread followed next, with
Nettie last of all. Unaware of his possession of histrionic ability,
Steptoe gave to each character its outstanding traits, fluttering like
Jane, and giggling like Nettie, not in zeal for a newly discovered
interpretative art, but in order that Letty might be nowhere caught at
a disadvantage. He was delighted with her quickness in imitation.

"Couldn't 'ave done that better myself," he declared after Nettie had
been dismissed for the third or fourth time. "When it comes to the
inclinin' of the 'ead I should sye as madam was about letter-perfect,
as they sye on the styge. If Mr. Rash was to see it, 'e'd swear as 'is
ma 'ad come back again."

A muffled sound proceeded from the back part of the hallway, with
some whispering and once or twice Nettie's stifled cackle of a laugh.

"'Ere they are," he warned her. "Madam must be firm and control
'erself. There's nothink for 'er to be afryde of. Just let 'er think
of the lyte Queen Victoria, called to the throne when younger even
than madam is----"

A shuffling developed into one lone step, heavy, stately, and
funereal. Doing her best to emulate the historic