"It is only Joe," explained Florence, as soon as she could put in a word.
"I'd Joe him, if I had him here! You're a ruining of these children as I've always said; and you may thank your stars if Joe escapes the gallows. I've positively come on an errand of mercy."
"Not for Joe," declared the owner of the name with a sagacious shake of the head, while Mrs. Van Wyck paused for breath.
"Yes. Not one of them'll be worth a penny if they go on this way. Now, here's Florence, growing up in idleness"—
"She keeps pretty busy," said Granny stoutly.
"Busy! Why, you've nothing for her to do. When I was a little girl, my mother made me sit beside her, and sew patchwork; and before I was twelve year old I had finished four quilts. And she taught me the hymn,—
'Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.'"
"They always learn a verse for Sunday," said Granny deprecatingly.