“I don't, I don't. I may attend a meeting once in a while, later on, but I never shall hold office again. I have had all the 'advancement' I want.”
“Advancin' backwards, some folks would call what you're doin' now, Serena, I cal'late. There! I've said 'cal'late' again. I haven't said it before for a long time. This Cape sand has got into my grammar, I guess. I must be careful.”
“You needn't be. Say 'cal'late' if you want to, I am not going to fret you about your grammar any more, Daniel. I've got over that, too. I'd rather have you, just as you are, than any other man in the world, grammar or no grammar.”
“Whew! Hold on, old lady! If you talk that way I'll get so puffed up I'll bust into smoke when you touch me, like a dry toadstool. I--Hello! what was that? The train whistle, was it?”
“Yes. Here is the night train in; it is almost mail time, and no dinner yet. What IS the matter with Azuba? I'll speak to her.”
She was rising to go to the dining-room, but her husband detained her.
“No, you wait; no, you mustn't,” he said, hastily. “Sit right down, Serena. Speakin' of dinners, this talk of ours is like that everlastin' long meal that you and I went to at Barney Black's house just after we landed in Scarford. You remember it took half an hour to get to anything solid in that dinner, don't you? Yes, well, I'm just gettin' to the meat of my talk. And I want Gertie to come in on that course. She is on her way downstairs now; I hear her. Hi! Gertie! come in here, won't you!”
“But why haven't you lighted the lamp? Why are you sitting here in the dark?”
Serena answered. “Goodness knows,” she replied. “Your father would insist on it. I think he is going crazy; he has acted that way ever since lunch.”
“You see, Gertie,” he explained, “'twas on account of my bashfulness. Your mother, she wanted to sit along with me and hold hands, so--. Oh, all right; all right. You can show a glim now, Serena, if you want to. I'll cover up my blushes.”
The maligned Mrs. Dott announced that she had a good mind to box his ears. “That's what I should do to a child,” she added, “and nobody could act more childish than you have this afternoon.”
“Second childhood, Serena. Second childhood and dodderin' old age are creepin' over me fast. There!” as the lamp blazed and the parlor was illuminated, “now you can see for yourself. Do I dodder much?”