Page:Carroll Rankin--Dandelion Cottage.djvu/273

 Rh  "Well," said Mr. Downing, "this house certainly looked far more comfortable when I saw it the other day than it does now. Those children must have had the defects very well concealed. They deceived me completely."

"I think we're the people," said Mrs. Milligan, resentfully, "that have been deceived. Half of our furniture is ruined. Look at that sofa!"

Mr. Downing looked. The drenched old-gold plush sofa certainly looked very much like a half-drowned Jersey calf.

"Of course," continued Mrs. Milligan, sharply, "we expect to have our losses made good. Then we've had all our trouble for nothing, too. Of course we can't stay here—the place isn't fit for pigs. I suppose the best thing we can do is to move right back into our own house."

"Ye—es," said Mr. Milligan, overlooking the fact that Mrs. Milligan had inadvertently called her family pigs, "it