continued her progress, halting, with a dignified and elegant air, before the blackboard. The little Irish woman tossed her own head and appeared about to follow; however, her intention changed at a few words from the guardian of the apron table. She inclined her head, and with a glance of scorn at the silken back passed on over to the aprons and quilts. The matrons at the supper-table had viewed the incident with interest. A little sigh of relief or regret rippled about the board. "'Tis a great pity, that's sure," said one. "I was there when they had the words," said another. "Mrs. Conner was saying this voting business was all wrong--" "Well, sure she ain't far out of the way, with this time," interjected a voice; "bad blood more'n in this instance it's raised; the whole town's taking sides on it, and there was two fights yesterday. Why didn't they jest raffle the watch off decent and peaceable?" "There's some objects to raffling." "There's some objects to drinking tea an' coffee, they're so bigoted! In a raffle there's nobody pays more'n their quarter, or maybe a dollar or two--" "And that's it. Look at the power o' money we're gettin', Mrs. O'Brien dear! We'd _niver_ 'a' got nigh on to four hundred dollars for a gold watch rafflin'; and well you know it!" "Maybe," agreed Mrs. O'Brien, grimly, "but neither would we have got fightin' out of the church and fightin' in it; nor Pat Barnes be having his head broke. 'Twas hurted awful bad he was. His own mother told me; and she said Fritz Miller was sick in bed from it; Pat paid him well for talkin' down ould Ireland; and poor Terry Flanagin, he lost his job at the saw-mill for maddin' the boss that's Dutch, and infidel Dutch at that; and there's quarrels on ivery side, God forgive 'em! They talk of it at the stores, and they talk of it at the saloon, where they do be going too often to talk it; and 'tis a shame an' a disgrace, down to that saloon the dirty Dutchman--" "_Whisht_!" three or four mouths puckered in warning, and Mrs. O'Brien caught the smouldering gaze of a flaxen-haired woman in very full black skirts and black basque of an antique cut, who had but now approached the group; with her race's nimbleness of wit she added, "Sure there's dirty Germans and there's dirty Irish." "Dere is," agreed the new-comer, with displeasing alacrity, "und some is in _dis_ parish und dis sodality. I vas seen dem viping dishes mit a newsbaber. Dot's so. Yesterday night." An electric thrill ran through the circle, and two matrons, suddenly very red, answered at once: "Would you have us wipe them on our _handkerchiefs_? The towels were all gone!" "'Twas the awful crowd did it; an' 'twas only some saucers for the ice-cream."