The complainant paused, looked at Mariposa with an eye in which she saw laughter dancing, and said: “That’s rather a startling way for a gentleman to speak to a lady, isn’t it?” Though the language used by the accused was hard to associate with his cherubic appearance, and had somewhat shocked Mariposa’s affection, she could hardly repress a smile. Benito grinning, as if with pride at the prowess he had shown in the encounter with the strange female, looked at his brother and emitted an explosive laugh. Miguel, however, had more clearly guessed the seriousness of the offense, and looked uneasy. Barron was regarding the younger boy with unmoved and angry gravity. Mariposa saw that the man was not in the least inclined to treat the matter humorously. “Did you really say that, Benito?” he said. “Well,” said Benito, swaying his body from side to side, and fastening his eyes on a knife he had carelessly extracted from his pocket, “I didn’t see what she had to do with that crab. It was all alone in the vacant lot. How was we to know it was her crab?” “But,” to Miguel, “she told you before not to touch it, that it was bad, didn’t she?” “Yes,” returned the elder boy, exceedingly uncomfortable. “She come and leaned over the railing and hollered at us not to touch it, that it was bad and it ’ud make us sick. Then I stopped ’cause I didn’t want to get sick. But Ben wouldn’t, and she hollered again, and then he told her to go to the devil, and Mr. Pierpont came along just then, and she told him, and Ben got skairt and stopped.” There was a moment’s silence. The younger boy continued to smile and finger his knife, but it was evident he was not so easy in his mind. The stranger, now with difficulty restraining his laughter, turned again to Mariposa and said: “If the lady had been in any way aggressing on the young gentleman’s comfort or convenience, it would not have been exactly justifiable, but comprehensible. But when you consider that her sole desire was to save him from eating something that would make him sick, then you begin to realize the seriousness of the offense. Oh, Benito, you’re in a bad way, I’m afraid!” “I ain’t nothing of the kind,” said Benito, smiling and showing his dimples. “I ain’t done nothing more than Miguel.” “I didn’t tell her to go to the devil,” exclaimed Miguel, in a loud, combative voice. “’Cause I said it first,” replied his brother, calmly. “You didn’t have time.” “Well, Benito,” said Barron, “I’ve got no use for you when you behave that way. There’s no excuse for it. You’ve used the worst kind of language to a lady who was trying to do a decent thing. I won’t take you this afternoon.” The change on Benito’s face was sudden and piteous. The smile was frozen on his lips, he turned crimson, and said stammeringly, evidently hardly believing his ears: “To see the balloon? Oh, Uncle Gam, you promised it for a week. Oh, I’d rather see the balloon than anything. Oh, Uncle Gam!”