The meal proceeded in silence for a few minutes.

Mrs.Cullom had said but little, but John noticed that her diction was more conventional than in her talk with David and himself in the morning, and that her manner at the table was distinctly refined, although she ate with apparent appetite, not to say hunger.

Presently she said, with an air of making conversation, "I suppose you've always lived in the city, Mr.Lenox ?" "It has always been my home," he replied, "but I have been away a good deal." "I suppose folks in the city go to theaters a good deal," she remarked.
"They have a great many opportunities," said John, wondering what she was leading up to.

But he was not to discover, for David broke in with a chuckle.
"Ask Polly, Mis' Cullom," he said.

"She c'n tell ye all about the theater, Polly kin." Mrs.Cullom looked from David to Mrs.Bixbee, whose face was suffused.
"Tell her," said David, with a grin.
"I wish you'd shet up," she exclaimed.