"A good thing, too, if he were to do a little for you in that way," she replied.
"Yes, I'm sadly aware that I am far behind you in that respect, Miss Farrell," he retorted, with mock gravity.
"Don't be impertinent, Mr. Pomeroy!" replied the young lady.
Here a diversion was made by the curly-haired Eddie, from his post on Miss Blanchard's lap. His long and serious contemplation of the fire ended with a sigh, and the subject of it came out in the remark:
"I like the Crusaders a great deal better than the Giant-killers, Auntie! Don't you think they were the best?"
"I don't know, Eddie," replied Miss Blanchard, truthfully. "I never thought about it, I am afraid."
"Well, think! Auntie, think!" persisted the child, hugging her neck very tightly, while the others laughed.
"I think some of the Crusaders were Giant-killers, Eddie," said the young man, not sorry to air his historical knowledge. "Saladin gets the credit of being a pretty fairish giant, doesn't he, Miss Blanchard? or so I think my school-books used to say. By the way, wouldn't Chillingworth have made a first-class Crusader, a Crusader chaplain, you know?"
"Why, it was only the other Sunday he was telling us what mistaken views the Crusaders had, and how they often left real duties for visionary enterprises. See how well I have remembered that!" exclaimed Kitty.
"I doubt if he would have seen it, then," replied Mr. Pomeroy, chuckling over a happy thought.