Stewart Edward White

“ Ted was always so vague."
"I mind me," quoth I, in a musing tone, "of an ancient proverb or wise saw concerning eavesdroppers and what they hear."
"Don't be horrid!" Her voice became tearful again. "What do you suppose? The first thing I heard was that little Reynolds thing asking, 'Well, Ted dear, what did she spring on you this time?'—slangy little cat!—and then Ted told her everything I had told him, and they just had fits over it."
Dorothea was getting very doleful again. She looked on my augmenting symptoms.
"If you laugh," she asserted, solemnly, "I shall scream!" ”

“ Dorothea pulled single hairs from the rug and cast them on the fire. After a bit it became evident why the ancients sacrificed in the open air. Dorothea elevated her small nose and sat on her feet in the big armchair. ”

“ That's where I lost."
"Penalty of being clever," I remarked, sententiously.
"Then I am clever?" snapped in Dorothea, eagerly.
"In this world the punishment does not always fit the crime. The remark was general," said I.
Dorothea sank back. ”