When we entered the house we found all the women except Sally surrounding Billoo. He was very red in the face and dressed only in the canoe sail; but he wasn't in the least embarrassed. He had a self-satisfied smile; and he was talking as fast and as loud as he could.
We told him to go to bed and be ashamed of himself, and sleep it off. And he said that nobody understood him, and denied having drunk the whole case of champagne, and he said that he was in perfect control of all his faculties, and that if the ladies wished him to, he could dance a hornpipe for them that he had learned when he was a sailor….
The doctor and I went upstairs; and while he was with Sally I changed into proper clothes; and then I waited outside the door for him to come out and tell me the worst. After a long time he came. He looked very solemn, and closed the door behind him.
"What is it?" I said, and I think my voice shook like a leaf.
"Sam," he said gravely, "Sally is by way of cutting her first wisdom tooth."
"Good Lord!" I said, "is that all?"
"It's enough," said the doctor, "because it isn't a tooth."
"Oh!" I said, "oh! What ought I to do?"
"Why," said he, "I'd go in, and tell her how glad you are, and maybe laugh at her a little bit, and make much of her."
But I couldn't laugh at Sally, because she was crying.