"Well, you needn't for I'm not hungry. Tell Tabitha I don't want anything to eat. I am going to bed. My head aches."
"All right," retorted Susie, too cheerfully, he thought with bitterness in his heart, as he followed her nimble feet toward the house. He had hoped she would at least express some sympathy for his aching head; but what did she care? What did anyone care about him? Morosely he shambled along behind his agile cousin; but instead of entering the kitchen, which was of necessity also the dining-room, he chose the front door, and quietly sought the room where he and his brother slept.
Toady's pale face on the pillow made him pause on the threshold, while a twinge of remorse tugged at his heart, but the victim, hearing the creak of the opening door, opened his round eyes, and smiling beatifically, asked in a weak voice, "Seen Tabitha?"
Billiard grunted an unintelligible reply.
"Tell you what, she's a crackerjack!" continued the invalid. Then, as Billiard's only answer was a vicious jerk which divested him of collar and waist at a single effort, Toady cried in surprise, "Why, Bill, have you had your supper?"
"Don't want any!" growled the other, tugging savagely at his boots.
"What's the matter? Sick?"
"Headache!"
"You didn't eat any castor-beans, did you?"
Billiard paused in the act of crawling into bed to glare angrily at his brother, thinking he was being made fun of; but Toady's cherubic face seemed to allay his suspicions, and he briefly, but savagely replied, "Naw!"