“‘Susannah,’ says I, ’this is a particular job and we’re anxious to please.  You’d better do the waitin’ yourself.’

“I wish you could have seen the glare that ex-housekeeper give me.  For a second I thought we’d have open mutiny.  But her place wa’n’t any too sartin and she didn’t dare risk it.  Over she walked to that table, and the fun began.

“Jonadab had laid himself out to make that meal a success, but they ate it as if ’twas pretty poor stuff and not by no means what they fed on every day.  They found fault with ’most everything, but most especial with Susannah’s waitin’.  My! how they did order her around—­a mate on a cattle boat wa’n’t nothin’ to it.  And when ’twas all over and they got up to go, Effie says, so’s all hands can hear: 

“’The food here is not so bad, but the service—­oh, horrors!  However, Albert,’ says she to the side-whiskered man, ’you had better give the girl our usual tip.  She looks as if she needed it, poor thing!’

“Then they paraded out of the room, and I see Susannah sling the half dollar the man had left on the table clear to Jericho, it seemed like.

“The auto was waitin’ by the piazza steps.  The shofer and Butler was standin’ by it.  And when Sim see Effie with her veil throwed back he pretty nigh fell under the wheels he’d been washin’ so hard.  And he looked as if he wisht they’d run over him.

“‘Oh, dear!’ sighs Effie, lookin’ scornful at the wheels.  ’Not half clean, just as I expected.  I knew by the looks of that—­that person that he wouldn’t do it well.  Don’t give him much, Albert; he ain’t earned it.’

“They climbed into the cockpit, the shofer took the helm, and they was ready to start.  But I couldn’t let ’em go that way.  Out I run.

“‘Say—­say, Effie!’ I whispers, eager.  ‘For the goodness’ sakes, what’s all this mean?  Is that your—­your—­’

“‘My husband?  Yup,’ she whispers back, her eyes shinin’.  ’Didn’t I tell you to look out for my prophecy?  Ain’t he handsome and distinguished, just as I said?  Good-by, Mr. Wingate; maybe I’ll see you again some day.’

“The machinery barked and they got under way.  I run along for two steps more.

“‘But, Effie,’ says I, ‘tell me—­is his name—?’

“She didn’t answer.  She was watchin’ Sim Butler and his wife.  Sim had stooped to pick up the quarter the Prince of Wales had hove at him.  And that was too much for Susannah, who was watchin’ from the window.

“‘Don’t you touch that money!’ she screams.  ’Don’t you lay a finger on it!  Ain’t you got any self-respect at all, you miser’ble, low-lived—­’ and so forth and so on.  All the way to the front gate I see Effie leanin’ out, lookin’ and listenin’ and smilin’.

“Then the machine buzzed off in a typhoon of dust and I went back to Jonadab, who was a livin’ catechism of questions which neither one of us could answer.”

“So that’s the end!” exclaimed Captain Bailey.  “Well—­”