"Well, she don't understand why my youngest lad condescends to associate with some boys toward whom she has taken a cordial dislike on sight.
"Now, only this morning I heard her reproaching him.
"'How can you associate with that Bink's boy? I understand he's the worst scholar in the school.'
"'Huh!' said my little chap, quick as a shot, 'don't you think I've got any gratitude, aunty—why, if it wasn't for him, Harold Bangs or me'd be at the foot of the class.'"
While we stood there awaiting a belated express, a lady came up the stairs, who immediately attracted attention from every gentleman present.
She was certainly a stunner and no mistake.
When she sailed past with the carriage of a duchess we both discovered that art had supplanted nature in giving her cheeks such a delightful glow.
This gave me an opening.
Judkins had just been asserting that women are as honest as men.