"No, ma'am—not just now, but I had yesterday; and I thought I would be provided."
"You seem provided for a long time," Miss Pinshon remarked.
"Can't get anything up at Magnolia, except rice," said Preston, after making the lady a bow which did not promise good fellowship. "You must take with you what you are likely to want there."
"You will not want all that," said his mother.
"No ma'am, I hope not," said Preston, looking at his package demurely. "Old Uncle Lot, you know, always has a cough; and I purpose delighting him with some of my purchases. I will go and put them away."
"Old Uncle Lot!" my aunt repeated. "What Uncle Lot? I did not know you had been enough at Magnolia to get the servants' names. But I don't remember any Uncle Lot."
Preston turned to leave the room with his candy, and in turning gave me a look of such supreme fun and mischief that at
another time I could hardly have helped laughing. But Miss Pinshon was asking me if I understood arithmetic?
"I think—I know very little about it," I said hesitating. "I can do a sum."
"In what?"