“Oh! Yes, yes, I see. One of Seth Payne’s roomers, was it? He’s got a houseful of ’em this summer, so they tell me. Why, there’s a couple there from somewheres out West--Milwaukee--or Missouri, or somewheres; begins with a M, anyway. They’re awful queer folks. Take their meals at Emeline Ryder’s and Emeline says she never had such cranky mealers at _her_ table, before nor since. Why, one day, so she says, the man--I do wish I could remember his name--found fault with the beefsteak they had for dinner; said ’twas too tough to eat. Now, accordin’ to Emeline ’twas as good top of the round steak as she could buy out of the butcher cart, and she’d pounded it with the potato masher for half an hour before she put it in the fryin’ pan. She lost her patience and says she: ‘Now, look here, Mr. ----’. Oh, dear, dear! What _is_ that man’s name? Funny I can’t remember it. What is it, Reliance? Do tell me, for mercy sakes!” Reliance could not remember, either, but she suggested various names, none of which was exactly right. Mrs. Wheeler departed in disgust before the matter was settled. Miss Makepeace commented upon the manner of her exit. “What made her switch out that way?” she inquired, in surprise. “Acted as if she was out of sorts about somethin’, seemed to me. Don’t you suppose she liked the hat, Reliance?” Reliance smiled. “It wasn’t the hat that brought her here,” she observed. “That woman was fishin’, Abbie.” “Fishin’! What are you talkin’ about? Fishin’ for what?” “For what she didn’t get. She wouldn’t have got it from me, anyhow, but you saved me the trouble of tellin’ her so and, maybe, losin’ us a customer. Do you remember that man in the Bible who wanted bread and somebody gave him a stone? Well, that Wheeler woman wanted news and what she got was a tough beefsteak. Serve her right. Much obliged to you, Abbie.” Abbie had not listened to the last part of this speech. Now she clapped her hands in satisfaction. “There!” she exclaimed. “I’ve got it at last. When you said somethin’ about a stone it came to me. Stone made me think of brick and brick was what I wanted. That man’s name is Clay. Tut, tut! Well, I shan’t forget it next time.”