"You goose!" she said, putting her arms around him and holding him tight.
"Gander love," said Laddie, turning up his face for a kiss. "Honest mother, you have been through nigh unto forty years of it, tell me, can a man be a farmer and keep neat enough not to be repulsive to a refined woman?"
"Your father is the answer," said mother. "All of you know how perfectly repulsive he is and always has been to me."
"'Repulsive,"' said father. "That's an ugly word!"
"There are a whole lot of unpleasant things that peep around corners occasionally," said Laddie. "But whoever of you dear people it was that showed Mr. Pryor the Crest of Eastbrooke, brought out this particular dragon for me to slay."
"Tut, tut! Now what does that mean?" said father. "Have we had a little exhibition of that especial brand of pride that goes before a fall?"
"We have! and I take the tumble," said Laddie. "Watch me start! 'Jack fell down and broke his crown.' Question—will 'Jill come tumbling after?'"
My heart stopped and I was shaking in my bare feet, because I wore no shoes to shake in. Oh my soul! No matter how Laddie jested I knew he was almost killed; the harder he made fun, the worse he was hurt. I opened my mouth to say I did it, I had to, but Leon began to talk.
"Well, I think she's smart!" he cried. "If she was going to give you the mitten, why didn't she do it long ago?"
"She had to find out first whether there were a possibility of her wanting to keep it," said Laddie.