"I did not mean any offense, Mrs.Cobb, but I assure you there must be a dagger concealed in that sofa, for some pointed weapon entered my person in a most painful manner.

If you will excuse me, I'll take this chair, for I really do not dare sit down there again." The widow gave a sniff.
"Your courage is very limited," she said.

"Now, I do love to admire a man with courage enough to----" "Ex-cuse me," squealed Jenks, elevating his voice.

"The sofa is good enough for me." Down he sat upon it, smiling triumphantly.
Frank still had the hatpin--which he had found on the floor beneath the sofa--ready for use, but he held his hand a bit, knowing he could give Jenks a greater shock if he should be pricked after, he had sat there a while in apparent security.
"Oh, you're a daring blade--you are!" sneered Scotch, fiercely, as he glared at Jenks.

"You'd walk right up to the mouth of a cannon--if you knew it wasn't loaded!" "Well, I never yet got frightened by a hair-cloth sofa," squeaked Jenks.
The widow smiled seductively on the long and lanky professor.
"You don't find nothing the matter with the sofy, do you, professor ?" she asked.
"Not a thing," piped Jenks.