“Well, in the name of sakes, who, then?”
“You,” said Mr. Clyde, grabbing the old lady by both shoulders and giving her a vigorous kiss. “Unanimously elected amidst an uproar of enthusiasm, as the ‘Star’ puts it. Here it is, on the first column of the front page.”
For the first time in the history of the Clyde household, the senior member thereof gave way to an unbridled license of speech, in the presence of the family.
“Well, I vum!” said Grandma Sharpless.
XII.
PLAIN TALK
“What do you find so interesting in that paper, Strong?” asked Mr. Thomas Clyde, from his place in the corner of the big living-room.
Dinner was just finished in the Clyde household, and the elders were sitting about, enjoying the easy and intermittent talk which had become a feature of the day since the Health Master had joined the family. From outside, the play of lively voices, above the harmonized undertones of a strummed guitar, told how the children were employing the after-dinner hour. Dr. Strong let the evening paper drop on his knees.
“Something that has set me thinking,” he said.
“Don’t you ever give that restless mind of yours a vacation, young man?” inquired Grandma Sharpless, looking up from her game of solitaire.
“All that is good for it. Perhaps you’d like to share this problem, and thus relieve me of part of the responsibility.”