"And you would like this little table for your basket, wouldn't you?" he said, lifting it across the porch.
"Thank you," said Edith, mollified in spite of herself. Then she stiffened again.
"Where are Ben and Chester?" she asked, with a severe glance at Bob.
"I saw them around at the side door."
"It does seem a shame that they should be banished from the front of the house. For years they have had the use of this piazza; and now, just because Bob chooses to monopolize the place, they feel that they must go."
"Very foolish feelings," said Neal, who had returned to his hammock. "If they only had a little spirit they would soon show Bob his proper place. Why don't they give him a good shaking when he nips their legs?"
"Because they are larger than he, and because they are too polite to do it in their own home."
Neal laughed. He had a hearty, contagious laugh, and Edith could not refrain from joining in it.
"They set you a very good example," he said. "Come, Edith, confess that you hate the Gordons, from Bob up."
Edith colored. "How silly you are!" she said, with supreme dignity. "Why should I trouble myself to dislike you?"