“Now, father,” whined Mrs. Conover, persuasively, “why be so hard on the poor boy? Perhaps——”
“Perhaps he’s wheedled you into thinking a yeller-haired high-kicker would make the ideel daughter-in-law for the next Governor of the Mountain State. But his golden eloquence hasn’t caught me yet. So, as long as there’s one sane member of the Conover family——”
“Oh, Caleb, how can you treat your own child——”
“Yes!” snorted Caleb, “my own children have a right to expect a fine line of treatment from me, haven’t they? Blanche and Jerry, both. What is it Ibid says about ‘A serpent’s tooth and a thankless——’”
“That was Shakespeare,” contradicted Mrs. Conover, with the tact that was her chief charm. “And you’ve got it all wrong. There’s no such person as——”
“I tell you it was Ibid,” growled Caleb, always tender on the subject of his learning. “It says so in the ‘Famous Quotation’ book. Maybe you can look down on my education. But I guess I can stand pat all right on the things I have learned. And——”
The butler entered with a card, which he carried to Caleb. After one glance at the pasteboard Caleb crushed it in his fingers and threw it to the floor.
“Turn her out!” he ordered.
“Why, who is it?” squeaked his wife in high excitement.
“It’s some woman for Jerry. Gaines brought me the card by mis——”