“Oh, if success lies in bungling, I will succeed.”
“Don’t be too sure. I suppose that man will be here by daybreak to-morrow?”
“Not so bad as that, Jennie. You always try to put the worst face on things. He won’t be here till sunrise at the earliest.”
“I will ask Eva to come down.”
“You needn’t hurry just because of me. Besides, I would like a few moments to prepare myself for my fate. Even a murderer is given a little time.”
“Not a moment, Ed. We had better get this thing settled as soon as possible.”
“Perhaps you are right,” he murmured, with a deep sigh. “Well, if we Britishers, as Miss S. calls us, ever faced the Americans with as faint a heart as I do now, I don’t wonder we got licked.”
“Don’t say ‘licked,’ Ed.”
“I believe it’s historical. Oh, I see. You object to the word, not to the allegation. Well, I won’t cavil about that. All my sympathy just now is concentrated on one unfortunate Britisher. My dear, let the sacrifice begin.”
Mrs. Mason went to the stairway and called—