You heard what Sibyl said the other day, and--and you heard what--what--" "What Edith said to Sibyl ?" Bibbs finished the sentence for her.
"We CAN'T have any trouble o' THAT kind!" she wailed.

"Oh, it looks as if movin' up to this New House had brought us awful bad luck! It scares me!" She put both her hands over her face.

"Oh, Bibbs, Bibbs! if you only wasn't so QUEER! If you could only been a kind of dependable son! I don't know what we're all comin' to!" And, weeping, she followed her husband.
Bibbs gazed for a while at the fire; then he rose abruptly, like a man who has come to a decision, and briskly sought the room--it was called "the smoking-room"-- where Edith sat with Mr.Lamhorn.They looked up in no welcoming manner, at Bibbs's entrance, and moved their chairs to a less conspicuous adjacency.
"Good evening," said Bibbs, pleasantly; and he seated himself in a leather easy-chair near them.
"What is it ?" asked Edith, plainly astonished.
"Nothing," he returned, smiling.
She frowned.

"Did you want something ?" she asked.
"Nothing in the world.

Father and mother have gone up-stairs; I sha'n't be going up for several hours, and there didn't seem to be anybody left for me to chat with except you and Mr.Lamhorn." "'CHAT with'!" she echoed, incredulously.
"I can talk about almost anything," said Bibbs with an air of genial politeness.