He frowned plaintively, wishing he could think of some polite way of asking her to go away.

But, as she went on, he started violently, dropping manuscript and pencil upon the floor.
"I don't know whether you heard it, mother Sheridan," she said, "but this old Vertrees house, next door, had been sold on foreclosure, and all THEY got out of it was an agreement that let's 'em live there a little longer.

Roscoe told me, and he says he heard Mr.Vertrees has been up and down the streets more'n two years, tryin' to get a job he could call a 'position,' and couldn't land it.

You heard anything about it, mother Sheridan ?" "Well, I DID know they been doin' their own house-work a good while back," said Mrs.Sheridan.

"And now they're doin' the cookin', too." Sibyl sent forth a little titter with a sharp edge.