Rose beat time for her sister mockingly, and they answered in singsong.
"We did not! We did not! But," Nan added, dropping her hands to her sides tragically, "but if we had, oh, sir!"
"If you had I should have bought it of you at a premium. It's hard work being a banker for women: they all want ten per cent a month."
"Paul Fosdick's things were all guaranteed ten per cent a year," remarked Rose.
They all waited for the explosion that must follow the mention of this particular brother-in-law. Nowhere else in town would any one have dared to bring Fosdick, who was believed to be his pet abomination, into a conversation. Even in Hastings he found a kind of joy; the presence of a retired Hamlet among the foliage of the family tree was funny now that he had got used to it; and Amzi had a sense of humor. This little company expected him to explode and he must not disappoint them. The color mounted to his bald dome and his eyes bulged.
"Thunder! Rose, play that jiggly funeral march of a marionette!"
"I refuse," said Rose, spreading her skirts on the divan, "to do anything so cruel!"
"And besides," said Nan, "I bought a share of stock in his brickyard."
"Nan Bartlett," said Amzi, planting himself before her, "I will give you a peck of parsnips for that share."
"Couldn't take advantage of you, Amzi; and we never eat parsnips. They're bad for the complexion."