"Damned small," Maurice said, dryly. "Say," said Jacky, from the doorway, "I got a--" "Well, she--I mean this young lady--told my--ah, wife that you lived on Maple Street, and--" He was stammering with angry embarrassment; Lily gave a cluck of dismay. "Confound it!" said Maurice; "what'll we do?" "Now, don't you worry!" Lily said, cheerfully. "If she ever speaks to me again, I'll say, 'Why, you have the advantage of me!'" Her mincing politeness made him laugh, in spite of his irritation. "I think you'd like it in New York?" he urged. Lily's amber eyes were full of sympathy--but she was firm: "I wouldn't live in New York for anything!" "Mr. Gem'man," said Jacky, sidling crabwise into the room to the shelter of his mother's skirt; "I--" "Say, now, Sweety, be quiet! No, Mr. Curtis; I only go into real good society, and I've always heard that New York ladies ain't what they should be. And, besides, I want a garden for Jacky. I'll tell you what I'll do! I'll take the top flat in that house on Ash Street. It has three little rooms I could let. There's a widow lady's been asking me to go in on it with her; it has a garden back of it Jacky could play in--last summer there was a reg'lar hedge of golden glow inside the fence! Mr. Curtis, you'd 'a' laughed! He pinched an orange off a hand-cart yesterday, just as cute! 'Course I gave him a good slap, and paid the man; but I had to laugh, he was so smart. And he's got going now, on God--since I've been paying him to say his prayers. Well, I suppose I'll have to be going to church one of these days," she said, resignedly. "The questions he asks about God are something fierce! _I_ don't know how to answer 'em. Crazy to know what God eats--I told him bad boys." "Lily, I don't think--_Thunder and guns!_" said Maurice, leaping to his feet and rubbing his ankle; "Lily, call him off! The little wretch put his teeth into me!" Lily, horrified, slapped her son, who explained, bawling, "Well, b-b-but he didn't let on he heard me tellin' him that I--" "I _felt_ you," Maurice said, laughing; "Gosh, Lily! He's cut his eyeteeth--I'll say that for him!" He poked Jacky with the toe of his boot, good-naturedly: "Don't howl, Jacobus. Sorry I hurt your feelings. Lily, what I was going to say was, I don't believe that Ash Street place is what you want?" "Yes, it is. The widow lady is a dressmaker, and she has three children. We were talking about it only yesterday. Her father's feeble-minded, poor old man! I take him in some doughnuts whenever I fry 'em. Mr. Curtis, don't worry; I'll fix it, somehow! And until I get moved, I won't answer the bell here. Look! I'll give you a key, and you can come in without ringing if you want to." "No--_no_! I don't want a key! I wouldn't take a key for a million dollars!"