Page:The Reverberator (2nd edition, American issue, London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1888).djvu/67

Rh then she replied, in her little flat, patient voice, "Why, Delia Dosson, how can you be so foolish?"

"Father, I wish you'd speak to her. Francie, I ain't foolish."

"What do you want me to say to her?" Mr. Dosson inquired. "I guess I've said about all I know."

"Well, that's in fun; I want you to speak to her in earnest."

"I guess there's no one in earnest but you," Francie remarked. "These are not so good as the last."

"No, and there won't be if you don't look out. There's something you can do if you'll just keep quiet. If you can't tell difference of style, well, I can."

"What's the difference of style?" asked Mr. Dosson. But before this question could be answered Francie protested against the charge of carrying on. Quiet? Wasn't she as quiet as a stopped clock? Delia replied that a girl was not quiet so long as she didn't keep others so; and she wanted to know what her sister proposed to do about Mr. Flack. "Why don't you take him and let Francie take the other?" Mr. Dosson continued.

"That's just what I'm after—to make her take the other," said his elder daughter.

"Take him—how do you mean?" Francie inquired.