“‘No,’ I says, ‘this is the J party.’
“I heard him laughin’.”
“‘Hello, Mrs. Sweeny,’ he says, ‘rubberin’ in on the line again? This is Mike talkin’.’
“‘No,’ I says, gettin’ mad. ‘I ain’t rubberin’ in on the line. Our bell rung,’ I says, ‘and a lady’s got a puffec’ right to answer her telephone if the bell rings,’ I says.
“He laughs again.
“‘Correct,’ he says; ‘go to the head of the class.’ Then he told me he didn’t mean nothin’ and for me not to go away mad. But I hung up, and throwed a salt cellar across the room, I was so put out.
“After a while, though, the thing got to easin’ up on my chest, and I begun to wonder what the Wop’s business with Mr. Doyle was. I knew that Doyle was makin’ considerable money out of his place; so, puttin’ two and two together, it looked to me that mebbe the Wop was after it. Now, mister, we’ve brought up at the place where there’s a curious woman to deal with—and somethin’ usually happens when one of them persons is turned loose, don’t it?”
“I believe so,” laughed the Boarder.
“You better had,” she told him. “Oh, don’t they know human nature, though!”
“Who?” inquired he, not knowing where he stood.