"A great deal farther than that, my dear."
"There, I thought so! And we couldn't hear 'em pound it down with an axe—could we? That isn't what makes thunder? O, what a boy!"
Mr. Parlin laughed heartily.
"Did Adolphus tell you such a story as that?"
"Yes, sir, he did," cried Dotty, indignantly, "and said there was a dipper to it, with a handle on, as large as a tub. And a man tied it that came from I-don't-know-where, and found this world. I know that wasn't true, for he didn't say anything about Adam and Eve. What an awful boy!"
"What did you say to Adolphus?" said Mr. Parlin, still laughing. "Hadn't you been putting on airs? And wasn't that the reason he made sport of you?"
"I don't know what 'airs' are, papa."
"Perhaps you told him, for instance, that you were travelling out West, and asked him if he ever went so far as that."
"Perhaps I did," stammered Dotty.
"And it is very likely you made the remark that you had the whole care of yourself, and know how to part your hair in the middle. I did not listen; but it is possible you told him you could play on the piano."