Galusha declared that he had no doubt of its truth, indeed, no.

“But, you see,” continued Lulie, “the one thing I do want—­which is for father to like Nelson—­can’t be bought with money.  I try to talk with him, and argue with him; sometimes when he is especially good-natured and has been especially nice to me, I try to coax him, but it always ends in one way; he gets cross and won’t listen.  ‘Don’t talk to me about that Howard swab, I won’t hear it.’  That’s what he always says.  He always calls Nelson a ‘swab.’  Oh, dear!  I’m so tired of it all.”

“Yes—­ah—­yes, I’m sure you must be.  Ah—­um—­swab?  Swab?  It doesn’t sound agreeable.  What is a—­ah—­swab, may I ask?”

“Oh, I believe it’s a kind of mop that the sailors use aboard ship to clean decks with.  I believe that is what it is.”

“Indeed?  Yes, yes, of course.  Now that is quite interesting, isn’t it?  A mop—­yes.  But really, I don’t see why Mr. Howard should be called a—­ah—­mop.  There is nothing about him which suggests a mop to me.  Now in my case—­why, this very morning Miss Mar—­Miss Phipps suggested that my hair needed cutting very badly.  I hadn’t noticed it, myself, but when she called my attention I looked in the mirror and—­ah—­really, I was quite a sight.  Ah—­ shaggy, you know, like a—­like a yak.”

“A what?”

“A yak.  The—­ah—­Tibetan animal.  I spent a season in Tibet a number of years ago and they use them there for beasts of burden.  They have a great deal of hair, you know, and so did I—­ah—­this morning.  Dear me, yes; I was quite yaklike.”

Lulie turned an amused glance at him.  “So Martha tells you when—­” she began, and then stopped, having spoken without thinking.  But her companion was not offended.

“Oh, yes, yes,” he said cheerfully.  “She tells me many things for my own good.  She quite manages me.  It is extremely good of her, for goodness knows I need it.  Dear me, yes!” He thoughtfully rubbed his shorn neck and added, “I told that barber that my hair needed cutting badly.  I—­ah—­fear that is the way he cut it. . . .  I read that joke in the paper, Miss Lulie; it isn’t original, really.”

He smiled and she burst out laughing.  But she did not laugh long.  When she next spoke she was serious enough.

“Mr. Bangs,” she said, “you don’t think it dishonorable, or mean to father, for me to keep on seeing Nelson, do you?  Father keeps ordering me not to, but I never say I won’t.  If he asked me I should tell him that I did.”

Galusha’s answer was promptly given.

“No, I don’t think it dishonorable,” he said.  “Of course, you must see him.  It is too bad that you are obliged to see him in—­ah—­ah—­ dear me, what is the word I want?  Clan—­clan—­sounds Scottish, doesn’t it?—­oh, yes, clandestine!  It is too bad you are obliged to see him clandestinely, but I suppose your father’s attitude makes anything else impossible.  I am very sorry that my claiming to be the evil influence has had so little effect.  That was a mistake, I fear.”