More Tish

seen the advertisement in the newspaper. She came to my house at once in violent excitem

emale, and if possible answer to the name

, "did you insert the advertiseme

eing cold and the weather warm, she was dabbing a little on he

she demanded, "that you don't

the name before somewhere. Didn't Ti

ite me and took off her bonnet. Although it was only the

with neuralgia she was scheming and planning and never saying a word to me! Not that I would have gone;

d to her-her mail?

loud to Tish any more. The older she gets the worse she is. She thinks that what any one else has done she can g

e devout than usual, and had taken down the headings of the sermon on her missionary envelope; but that, on my leaning over to see if sh

floor nervously, ho

"I could see it sticking out all over her while I read that book. And if we go to her now and t

come for my recipe for caramel custard. But when I put on my wr

ome. Miss Swift, the seamstress, opened the door

elbow as Aggie tried to duck by her; "but she left positive orders to

s Letitia?" Aggie asked s

thin things-it's

n upholsterer's needle!" said Aggie, and

alking tour I couldn't imagine what an upholsterer's needle

entrance before Agg

she demanded. "That w

floor not six inches from my toe, and lodged in the ceiling. Aggie and I stood looking up. It

clared Aggie, clutching m

on top of Heaven knows what; but we were divided between fear and outrage, and our indignation won. With hardly a word we went back to the rear staircas

essing sacque was on the line, and the blue had run, as I had said it would when sh

re both there. The

d been hit we'd have heard a scream; or if

Hannah. "I don't like it, Miss Tish.

ded Tish. "Now take that broomstick and

all and stood waiting, with a piece of charcoal in her hand. The whitewash

it a

heard a

part, pointing it at a white target hanging by a string from a rafter. As she gave the signal. Hannah sighed,

nough, so I stepped into the ce

rberry!" I

nt into the furnace pipe. It was absurd, of course, for

she snapped. "Can't a pers

torted, "is six months' compl

in the upper hall,"

upper hall or any other place, I guess you

hors de combat; but the shot immediately after was what Tish triumphan

I take it. And Tish is nobody's fool. She took off her spectacles and wiped the per

aid oracularly, and, sitting down on the edge of the coal-bin, proce

"And if you think you look sporty, or anything but idiotic, sitting

at each other. Tish's demoralization had begun. From that minute, to the long and entirely false story she told the red-bearded man in Thunder

lieving that Tish with an unloaded gun was a thousand times more da

of the bedroom, where we could hear Miss Swift running t

y answers to you

ce of lemon in her tea, put it in her

dvertis

ou think it proper for a woman of your age to g

eeble yet, as far as my age goes. If I want to

your bad knee," I o

the broad highway, walking between hedgerows of flowering-flowering-well, between hedgerows. While you sleep in stuffy, upholstered rooms I shall lie

what Aggie had meant th

going to do

nyhow, a friendly farmhouse and

eye for Nature, and for almost half a century has pampered her body in a featherbed poulti

get to change your stockings when your feet are wet and yo

spair, but Aggie was dete

make it a family excursion. Aren't you

to do looking after myself. But I like the idea,

s a day; and that any one falling back would have to be left by the wayside. And that if we were not prepared to sleep on the ground, o

ad not had some practice with firearms, for we would each have to take a weapon, the mountains being full of outlaws, more than likely.

insists that she is younger than I am, but we were in the same infant class in Sunday-school-th

he trip. He would be sure to be fussy and want t

ll Indians. In fact, Tish said it reminded her of the time, years ago, when Charlie Sands and some other boys had run away, with all the

ed hers immediately on the same lines, with her fur coat as a lining; but I had mine made of oilcloth

e had nothing more dangerous than a bayonet from the Mexican War. This being too heavy to carry, and dull-being o

ooting as long as one holds a finger on the trigger-a snub-nosed thing that looked as deadly as it was. She was in terror of it from the

ngs me to

eye, and the third was a donkey. It seemed that Stevenson had said that the pack animal of such a

ne and called him Modestine anyhow. He was very dirty, and we paid a dollar extra to have him washed with soap powder, as our food w

nds; the weather was warm and sunny, and the orchards were in bloom. I had no premonition of danger. The adventure, reduced to its elements of canned food, alcohol

er, without Aggie'

's mind, but we did not know it until later. Really, Aggie's missionary dime is the story. If she had done as she had planned at first and invested it in an egg, had hatched the egg in co

glass of jelly wrapped in a two-

reed to bring him at that hour to the alley behind Tish's apartment. On Monday Aggie and

th luggage scattered all round he

witheringly wh

izzie," she said, "and Aggie ha

ave shoes," Ag

underwear, intermediates and flannels, a bathrobe, six bath towels and a

ed. "Why don't we have a horse a

. You'd have rheumatism or a corn and you'd take your walking trip sitting. Bes

eing small, could only carry the sleeping-bags, our portable stove and

athered, and when we finally started off, Tish ahead with Modestine's bridle over her arm and Aggie and I behind with our suitcases, a sort of c

ute out of town, and by the time we had reached the outskirts we had a string of small boys behind us like the

e had been an hour and twen