“’Mr. Joe’s in the front entry; the other man’s somewheres round, Billy says, waitin’ till I send word whether they can stop.  I darsn’t till I’d seen you, for I can’t do nothin’, I’m in such a mess,’ says the old lady.

“’So am I, for I can’t get in except by the Error!  Hyperlink reference not valid. entry window, and he’ll see me,’ says Kitty, gigglin’ at the thoughts of Joe.

“’Come down the ladder, there’s a dear.  I’ll pull it round and keep it stiddy,’ says her mother.

“‘Oh, ma, don’t ask me!’ says Kitty, with a shiver.  ’I’m dreadfully scared of ladders since I broke my arm off this very one.  It’s so high, it makes me dizzy jest to think of.’

“’Well, then, I’ll do the best I can; but I wish them boys was to Jericho!’ says the old lady, with a groan, for she was fat and hot, had her gown pinned up, and was in a fluster generally.  She was goin’ off rather huffy, when Kitty called out,—­

“‘Stop, ma!  I’ll come down and help you, only ketch me if I tumble.’

“She looked scared but stiddy, and I’ll bet it took as much grit for her to do it as for one of us to face a battery.  It don’t seem much to tell of, but I wish I may be hit if it wasn’t a right down dutiful and clever thing to see done.  When the old lady took her off at the bottom, with a good motherly hug, I found myself huggin’ my rifle like a fool, but whether I thought it was the ladder, or Kitty, I ain’t clear about.  ‘Good,’ thinks I; ’what more do you want?’

“A snug little property wouldn’t a ben bad, I reckon.  Well she had it, old skin-flint, though I didn’t know or care about it then.  What a jolly row she’d make if she knew I was tellin’ the ladder part of the story!  She always does when I get to it, and makes believe cry, with her head in my breast-pocket, or any such handy place, till I take it out and swear I’ll never do so ag’in.  Poor little Kit, I wonder what she’s doin’ now.  Thinkin’ of me, I’ll bet.”

Dick paused, pitched his cap lower over his eyes, and smoked a minute with more energy than enjoyment, for his cigar was out and he did not perceive it.

“That’s not all, is it?” asked Thorn, taking a fatherly interest in the younger man’s love passages.

“Not quite.  ’Fore long, Joe whistled, and as I always take short cuts everywhar, I put in at the back-door, jest as Kitty come trottin’ out of the pantry with a big berry-pie in her hand.  I startled her, she tripped over the sill and down she come; the dish flew one way, the pie flopped into her lap, the juice spatterin’ my boots and her clean gown.  I thought she’d cry, scold, have hysterics, or some confounded thing or other; but she jest sat still a minute, then looked up at me with a great blue splosh on her face, and went off into the good-naturedest gale of laughin’ you ever heard in your life.  That finished me.  ‘Gay,’ thinks I; ’go in and win.’  So I, did; made love hand over hand, while I stayed with Joe; pupposed a fortnight after, married her in three months, and there she is, a tip-top little woman, with a pair of stunnin’ boys in her arms!”