"Hello, Parenthesis!" was her greeting. "What's the matter with you?"
"Nothin'. This yere housekeepin' is gettin' on my nervous system some fearful." Parenthesis struck the dough a savage whack, and added: "I ain't cut out for housekeepin'."
"You've been cut out all right," retorted Polly, glancing at his legs, "whatever it's for."
Parenthesis was not abashed. "Yep, fer straddlin' a hoss," he proudly replied, as if that were the chief end of man.
Polly, thus balked in her teasing, tried a new form of badinage.
"Say, the boys are all braggin' on your bread-makin'. Won't you give me your receipt?"
"Good cooks," said Parenthesis, "never give away their receipts. Brings bad luck to 'em next time."
"Aw, come now, Parenthy, tell me, an' I'll let you make my weddin'-cake."
"Will you? an' let me put in whatever I want fer jokes on the boys?"
"Yep, everything goes."