"Look here, Plums," and Joe spoke sharply, "do you think I'm goin' to take the princess into a place where they sell five-cent stews?" "She's got to go somewhere, if she wants anything to eat." "We'll bring her supper to your shanty. I won't carry this little thing into a saloon for a crowd of toughs to look at." Master Plummer sighed. He had been anticipating a feast of stew from the moment Joe left him to engage in his new vocation, and it was a grievous disappointment that the pleasure should be so long delayed. "We'll go down to your place an' try an' fix things up; then you can leave us there--" "But you want somethin' to eat as well as I do." "I guess I can get along without anything, for a spell. It's the princess I'm thinkin' about; she's got to have somethin' fine, you know. Stew'd never do for her." "How's custard pie? I know where they've got some that's great,--two inches thick, with the crust standin' up 'round the edge so the inside won't fall out while you're eatin' it." "Perhaps the princess might like the custard; but I ain't so sure about the crust. It seems to me she's been fed mostly on candy, an' sich stuff as that. Anyhow, you take my money an' buy whatever you think she'd like. Got any candles down to your place?" "I did have one last week; but the rats ate most of it, an' I don't s'pose it would burn very well now." "Take this nickel, an' buy some in that grocery store." "Why don't you come, too?" "I don't believe the princess would like to go into sich a place, an' besides, folks might want to take hold of her. I ain't goin' to have any Dutch groceryman slobberin' over her." Master Plummer took the nickel and crossed the street in his ordinarily slow fashion, while Joe and the princess held a long and animated conversation, to the evident satisfaction of the little maid and the mystification of the boy. Owing to his being thus engaged, Joe did not grow impatient because of Master Plummer's long absence, as he might have done under other circumstances, and said to his princess when the newsdealer rejoined them: "Now, little one, we're goin' to Plums's home, an' you must try not to feel bad 'cause it ain't very swell. It's bound to be better'n stayin' out in the street all night, for I've tried that game a good many times, an' there's nothin' funny 'bout it." The little maid, perched on Joe's arm something after the fashion of a bird, chirped and twittered a reply, and Plums, who had fallen in the rear that he might secretly touch the arm which was around Joe's neck, said, reflectively: "I s'pose we'll have a high old time between now and mornin', 'cause that kid, sweet as she's lookin' jest now, ain't goin' to be quiet in a place like mine. It's fellers like you an' me, Joe, who've knocked 'round the city a good many times when we didn't have the price of a lodgin' in our pockets, what can 'preciate a home where the wind an' rain can't get in."