"Oh, Sam, why will you persist in bringing home candy?" Elizabeth asked, with a sort of tired indulgence in her voice. "You know they oughtn't to have it." "I forgot, Betty. Please, ma'am, will you 'xcuse me, just this once--if I'll never do it again?" His upraised hands and appealing eyes were irresistibly funny. Elizabeth laughed helplessly, and the children rolled on the floor in an ecstasy of mirth. When presently all trooped out to dinner neither parent observed Doris as she nibbled a second bonbon. "Oh-o-o! You naughty girl!" whispered Carroll enviously. "Where did you get that?" "Out of the box," replied the small maiden, with a toss of her yellow head. "Um-m, it's good; don't you wish you had some?" "Mother said----" "Don't talk so loud; I'll give you half!" "It's most all gone now. I'll tell mother, if you don't give me all the rest." And the boy reached masterfully for the coveted morsel. "You're such a rude child you oughtn't to have any," observed Doris, nonchalantly bestowing the debatable dainty in her own mouth. "If you tell, I'll call you 'tattle-tale'!" she said thickly; "then the' won't either of us get any." Carroll scowled fiercely at this undeniable statement. His father did not encourage unmanly reprisals. "You're an awful selfish child, Doris," he said reproachfully, "an' that's worse 'an being rude; mother said so. It's worser 'an anything to be selfish. _I_ wouldn't do it; guess I wouldn't!" "I am not selfish!" "You are, too!" "_Chil--dren!_" Their mother's vaguely admonitory voice caused the belligerents to slip meekly enough into their respective seats. They were hungry, and the soup smelled good. But their eyes and explorative toes continued the skirmish in a spirited manner. "I had a letter from Evelyn Tripp to-day," Elizabeth was saying, as she fastened the children's long linen bibs. "----Sit up straight in your chair, Doris, and stop wriggling." Sam Brewster cast an admonitory eye upon his son. "Evelyn Tripp!" he echoed, "I haven't heard you mention the lady in a long time." "You know they left Boston last year and I hardly ever see her now-a-days. Poor Evelyn!" "It is too bad," he said with mock solicitude. "Now, if you hardly ever saw me it would be 'poor Sam,' I suppose." "The Tripps lost most of their money," she went on, ignoring his frivolous comment; "then they moved to Dorchester." He helped himself to more soup with a reminiscent smile. "Worse luck for Dorchester," he murmured. "Why, Sam," she said reprovingly. "Of course Evelyn was--Evelyn; but she was as kind as could be just after we were married, and before, too. Don't you remember?" "Oh, yes; I remember perfectly. We were pawns on the chess-board in Miss Tripp's skilful hands for awhile," he agreed drily. "She's a Napoleon, a--er--Captain of Industry, a----" "Please don't, Sam," interrupted Elizabeth. "Poor Evelyn has been very unfortunate, and I'm sorry for her. She--wants to come and make us a visit, and I----"