"A jollier is an American classical word, Numè—a jollier is one who jollies you."
"Numè nod unerstan', still."
Mrs. Davis drew Numè away from him.
"Leave her alone, Walter," she said, reprovingly; and then to the girl: "Numè, you must not believe a thing he tells you."
Walter Davis laid his paper-cutter down.
"Madam, are you teaching that young girl to lose faith in mankind already?"
Mrs. Davis answered by placing her little hand over his mouth and looking at him with her pretty blue eyes so full of reproach that he pulled her down beside him. They had been married only a little over eighteen months.
"Here is the literal translation of the word 'jolly,'" he said to Numè. "Now, I want Mrs. Davis to be in a good humor, so I squeeze her up and tell her she is the darlingest little woman in the world."
Still the girl's face was troubled. She looked at the husband and wife a moment; then she said, very shyly: "Numè lig' to jolly, too."
Mrs. Davis pushed her husband's arm away.