"I wanted to tell you that we can't come down to the party."
"You can't?"
"No. My wife has just remembered that she agreed to go over to Johnson's on that night. Sorry, old fellow, but I hope——"
Mr. Bowser shut him off with a loud bang and returned to me and said:
"Mrs. Bowser, don't you ever darken Filbert's doors again—never! They are liars and dangerous people. I can fill their places in five minutes."
Before he got out of the house there was another ring.
"Hello, Bowser!"
"Yes."
"This is Watkins."
"Yes."