"Ulysses Budlong! you ought to be ashamed of yourself for saying such a thing!" But she suddenly heard, in fancy, the laugh that would go up if she sprung such an excuse. She gave in:
"We'll have to quarrel with somebody then. But what excuse is there?"
"Women don't need any real excuse. You simply telephone Sally Swezey that a certain person told you—and you won't name any names—that she had been making fun of you and you'd be much obliged if she never spoke to you again for you'd certainly never speak to her again."
"But how do I know Sally Swezey has been making fun of me?"
"Oh, there ain't any doubt but what everybody in town is doing that."
"Ulysses Budlong! how can you talk so!"
"If people without money couldn't make fun of people with—what consolation would they have? Anyway, it's not me but the other folks you're supposed to quarrel with. You spend an hour at that telephone and you can get the whole town by the ears."
"But I can't use the same excuse for everybody."
"You'll think up plenty once you put your mind to it." And with that another excuse came in pat. Came in howling and flagrant.
Ulysses Junior burst into the room, as if he had forgotten the presence of the door. He was yelping like a coyote and from his tiny nose an astonishing amount of blood was spouting.