Page:Lynch Williams--The girl and the game.djvu/189

 you're big. But I wonder if you ever stopped to think of any one else's comfort when it stood in the way of your dinner or your cigar. There you go again, with your childish capers. You are truly pitiable."

At that point little Mason bethought himself to call Skinney down a peg, and did so sharply.

For a moment Elliot was glad; and then he thought, "Why should that little fool think it his privilege to regulate this table? He has been told he is sarcastic, so he thinks he must live up to his part on all occasions. Anybody can curl up a lip and sneer; that's not very bright. He thinks he understands people's weaknesses and can pierce them every time. I wonder if it ever occurs to him that others see as much as he does. Look at him curling up his ugly mouth and glancing around the table to see which one to light upon."

"Great Scott! Elliot, don't talk so much. Give us a chance," Mason called out in a loud tone.

Elliot, who had not uttered a word for