“Very pleasant,” said Tom. “We had an adventure, too.”
“What was it?”
“We saved a little Irish boy from drowning.”
“That is new business for Cousin James,” said Mary, smiling.
“You needn’t lay it to me,” said James. “I didn’t have anything to do with the little brat.”
“You speak as if it were discreditable,” said Tom. “I’ll stand the blame.”
“I didn’t want him to drown,” said James, “but I am not partial to ragged boys.”
“It is always well to be humane,” said Lawyer Davenport. “I am glad that my boy was instrumental in preserving the life of a fellow-being.”
Mary and Tom continued their conversation, while Imogene grew more and more vexed with her cousin, till she had the ill-breeding to say, in an ill-natured tone:
“Really, Mary, you talk so much that nobody else gets a chance.”