"Oh, Ben," Edna glanced around fearfully, "do you really think there are bears around here?"
"I know there are, sometimes." He drew down his mouth in a way which made Edna suspect a joke.
"When is the sometimes?" she asked suspiciously.
"When they have a circus at Mayville."
"Oh, you Ben Barker, you are the worst," cried Edna roguishly pulling his nose.
"Here, here," he exclaimed, "look out, it might come off like the fox's tail."
"What fox?"
"Don't you know the story of 'Reynard, the Fox'? It is in one of those big, red books that lie on that claw-footed table in the living-room."
"Here, in this house?"
"Yea, verily. You don't mean to say you have never read those books! Why, there is not a year since I was eight years old that I haven't pored over them. Every time I have been here, and that is at least once a year, I go for those books, I'd advise you to make their acquaintance."