All which Steenie did not quite understand. This book-loving old student was apt to “talk over the head” of a “’most-’leven”-year-old; but she gained this much: that, no matter what happened, she was to make things as bright as she could, and her loving heart responded loyally.
“I’ll be as patient as patient. And I’ll never let my papa think a thing I can help; and—Oh! There’s the dinner-bell!”
Probably this common, every-day sound was a relief to everybody in the house; and though the meal was served a full hour later than usual, the extra care which had been expended upon it more than compensated for the delay.
“Oh, Mary Jane! How good that beefsteak does smell!”
“Humph! Better enjoy it while ye kin. Only the Lord knows how long any on us’ll eat beefsteak!” commented Resolved Tubbs, dolefully.
“Hush yer complainin’, can’t ye! An’ as long as the Lord continners ter bother ’ith us poor worms an’ sends porter-houses, receive ’em in the same sperrit, an’ be thankful!” retorted Mary Jane.
“Well, I call that sacrilegious, if you have enj’yed full immersion!” said the brother, snapping at a fly upon the table-cloth with such energy as to upset the salt.
“There it goes! Only the quer’l come afore the upsettin’. An’ I do say it: I’d ruther be sacrilegious with my tongue, ’an so sack-cloth-an’-ashesy with my sperrit.”
“Resolved! Mary Jane!” remonstrated Madam, sternly, yet with a smile dawning upon her lips. And if ever a quarrel can be said to be opportune, that one was; for Steenie laughed outright, and Sutro tittered, while even Mr. Calthorp lost the gravity of his expression for a little.
It was a good dinner! And there was more sense in Mary Jane’s philosophy than in her brother’s after all; for the savory dishes tempted appetites into existence, and through material enjoyment made even mental disquietude easier to endure.