The brother, who was in the act of leaning over his sister to kiss her, drew back with a reproving look.
"Why is it a girl can't talk without saying 'awful' in every sentence? I wish for variety's sake, Nellie, you and the rest of the girls would leave 'awful' out of one sentence in a hundred, and don't say 'I seen him,' for you know better than that, sister."
She hung her head and her eyes were growing misty, when Nick took the kiss with a laugh and moved to the door.
"There, there, good-by; you all act as if I was going to Africa to hunt lions and tigers."
Nellie snapped him up in a flash:
"There ain't any tigers in Africa, smarty!"
"You got me that time," laughed Nick; "where is father?"
"He went out of the door a minute ago; he is standing by the gate," said the mother, after a quick glance through the window.
Mr. Ribsam was leaning on the gate-post, as was a favorite custom of his, and the tobacco smoke ascended in clouds and rings, as though he was a locomotive tugging hard at a train, with the wheels continually slipping.
He looked at the boys without stirring or speaking, as they passed out the gate and gently closed it, so as not to jar the old gentleman leaning upon it.