“Naturally, Aunt Sarah,” said Mrs. Schofield, “I KNOW Penrod.”
Aunt Sarah laughed heartily. “Do you think his father knows him, too?”
“Of course, men are different,” Mrs. Schofield returned, apologetically. “But a mother knows——”
“Penrod,” said Aunt Sarah, solemnly, “does your father understand you?”
“Ma'am?”
“About as much as he'd understand Sitting Bull!” she laughed.
“And I'll tell you what your mother thinks you are, Penrod. Her real belief is that you're a novice in a convent.”
“Ma'am?”
“Aunt Sarah!”
“I know she thinks that, because whenever you don't behave like a novice she's disappointed in you. And your father really believes that you're a decorous, well-trained young business man, and whenever you don't live up to that standard you get on his nerves and he thinks you need a walloping. I'm sure a day very seldom passes without their both saying they don't know what on earth to do with you. Does whipping do you any good, Penrod?”