Tish, The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions

. Aggie has the anniversary habit, anyhow, and her life is a succession: of small feas

ndparents; a niece who died in birth; her cousin, Sarah Webb, who married a missionary and was swallowed whole by a large snake,-except he

ery in the afternoon and Aggie places the sheaf and the wreath on Mr. Wiggins's last resting-place, after first removing the lavender ribbon, of which she makes cap bows through the year and an occasi

Tish was late in arriving, and I found Aggie sitting alone, dressed in black, with a t

Tish?"

here

de me look at her. She was e

omment on the sheaf. "It's a better color for me if you're going to mak

iritedly to the bundle in

hat's no

t trembled with indignation, a lace-and-linen centerpiece. She held

a Cluny-lace fandangle. On mother's anniversary she sent me a set of doilies; and when Charlie S

pillows-everywhere. We had watched her Marseilles bedspreads give way to hem-stitched covers, with bolsters to match. We had seen Tish go through a cold winter clad in a succ

Aggie-and at that Tish came in. Sh

hristian youth and assist him by buying from him what I need-what I ne

t, mustached, dirty, palavering foreigner, who's pr

sed on Mr. Wiggins's day-in black; but she had a new lace collar with a jabot, and

e deeply sorry; but, so far as I care, they may object until they are purple in the face and their tongues ha

y you!" Thi

ed on by the Turks. Tufik speaks French and English as well as Mohammedan. They offered him a high government position if he would desert the

ite to the mayor, or whatever they call him over there

God of Ameri

" Aggie

m his lunch. He was starving; I thought we'd never fill him. And when it was over, he stooped in th

dryly. "What

She broke a c

m him; of his belief that this was the land of opportunity-Aggie sniffed; of his familiarity with the Bible and Biblical places; of the search the Turks were m

deniably peevish. She caught cold, too, and was sneezi

ahead and pulling on her gloves. From where we sat we could s

pped, "to have some chicken an

t she willfully drove over every rut and thank-you-ma'am on the road, scattering us generously over the tonneau, and finally, when Aggie, who was the li

l," she said absently. "Tufik

ands to avoid jarring. She looked goaded and desperate; and, as she said af

Tufik!"

ear her. While I was jacking up the car and Tish was getting the key of the

bed, "a camel never

t heard an oath from the lips of a

and wrapped flannels wrung out of lamp oil round it. When she wished to address either Tish or myself she held her head rigid and turned her w

ble history and triumphantly demanded whether we knew that Sodom and Gomorrah are towns to-day, and that a street-car line is contemplated to them from some place or other

n front of her and opening her mouth with a sort of lockjaw movement, the bell rang. We thought it

very black of hair-a slim youth of eighteen, possibly twenty, in a shabby blue suit, broken shoes, and a celluloid

!" he said,

rst effect was on Aggie's neck, which she forgot. Tufik's timid eyes rested for a moment on Tish and brightened

d," he said. "America is my frie

eam spoon and closed her

"and I am sure Miss Pilkingto

his eyes fixed on Aggie

y friend has said that this is for Miss Pilk a sad day. My friend is my moth

Aggie, feeling for the table-bell with

nobody, and having to wear trousers and celluloid collars instead of robes and turbans, and eat potatoes and fried things inst

d. "If you are good we

a boyish

gels I am good. I have here a letter f

ht it round the table to me. "See!" he said. "The prie

f it had been copied from an Egyptian monument a

t ever. It brings me friends." He put the paper away and drew a long b

bell, Aggie ordered ice cream for Tufik and a chair drawn to th

in the presence of my three mothers. But first

gie opened it. Tufik's gift proved to be a

fik stood in the doorway, smiling and bowing. Tish saw us going; and with the calmness of t

the doily and Tu

very nice of you," sai

ver and stoo

bent over and touched his lips to her hands. "The Bible says: 'To him that overcometh I will give the morning star!' I have overcometh-ah, so m

ntil he met Tufik. Aggie was fairly palpitant and Tish was smug, positively

people and the shepherds on the hills about Damascus and the olive trees in sunlight. We half-expected Tufik to adopt

r him and smiling to himself. "P

He's a sad-hearted and lonely boy; and we are going to do t

ds. "But, since his people are Christians, I wish you'd

game; but more than once his eye fell on Aggie's doily, and he mutt