"I heard
Farley a-pointin' out to her the _dee_-sirability of Paris and Rome and
sich European p'ints last night.... You calculate Sairy took the paper?"
"What else can I think?"
"To be sure.... Um!... Paris, Rome, London--might be argued into
stealin' it myself, if I was a gal. Um!... Ever see a toad ketch flies,
Bob? Does it with his tongue. There's toad men, Bob, that goes huntin'
wimmin the same way--with their tongues. Su'prisin' the number and
quality they ketch, too. What was you plannin' on doin', Bob? Goin' back
to your office, wasn't you? And keepin' your mouth shet? Was that the
idee? Eh?"
"I don't know what to do, Mr. Baines."
"Didn't figger on droppin' around to Grandma Penny's boardin' house
about eight sharp, did you? Eight sharp.... And kind of settin' down
quiet on the front porch? Jest settin'? Eh?... G'-by, Bob."
After Bob left the store Scattergood sat half an hour staring at the
stove; then he left the store to its own devices and wandered up the
street toward Grandmother Penny's. He encountered Sarah Pound as she
came out through the gate.
"Howdy, Sairy?" he said, cheerfully. "Havin' consid'able amusement with
life--eh?"
"I've been enjoying myself, Mr.
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