"I woke up stiff with fright. Didn't I, Will? Gracious! That first yell was a curdler!"
"Just before Jeanette was born I used to have bad dreams, too, but nothing like that. My!"
"My mother had a friend whose sister-in-law walked in her sleep right out of a third-story window and was dashed to—"
"Shh-h-h!"
"It's natural, Mrs. Jett. Don't you worry."
She really tried not to, and after some subsequent and private reassurance from Mrs. Peopping and Mrs. Keller, went for her hansom ride with a pleasant anticipation of the Park in red leaf, Mrs. Plush, in a brocade cape with ball fringe, sitting erect beside her.
One day, in the presence of Mrs. Peopping, Mrs. Jett jumped to her feet with a violent shaking of her right hand, as if to dash off something that had crawled across its back.
"Ugh!" she cried. "It flopped right on my hand. A minnow! Ugh!"
"A what?" cried Mrs. Peopping, jumping to her feet and her flesh seeming to crawl up.
"A minnow. I mean a bug—a June bug. It was a bug, Mrs. Peopping."