"Now, ma'am," chided Loudon, grinning, "yo're gettin' real excited."
"Who wouldn't? Here I am——"
"Say," interrupted Loudon, "when it comes to that, here I am gettin' fifty-five dollars a month. However can I get married, even if anybody'd have me, with silk dresses at five dollars a yard?"
"Silk dresses! What d'yuh mean by that?"
"Why, ma'am, I wouldn't let my wife wear nothin' but silk dresses mornin', noon, an' night. Nothin' would be too good for my wife. So yuh see how it is. I dassent think o' marriage."
Words failed Mrs. Burr. It was probably the first time that they had failed her. She gasped, gasped again, then stamped to the stove and furiously rattled the frying-pan.
"Well," she suddenly remarked, "wherever can that girl o' mine be? Gallivantin' 'round with that O'Leary feller just when I want her to go to the store. Now look here, Tom, you set right still till I come back, do yuh hear? No projeckin' 'round on that ankle. I'll get Ben to put yuh to bed after supper."
"He needn't bother," said Loudon, hastily. "I can get into bed my own self. I ain't a invalid."
"Yo're just what I say yuh are. If yuh make any fuss I'll put yuh to bed myself. So you watch out."
The masterful lady departed. Loudon, undisturbed by her threat, gazed after her with admiration.