"
Then as his morbidly keen observation caught a certain look of
blankness on Travis' face, and his rapid glance noted no vacant
chair at table, he gave a quick gasp of dismay.
"Heavens and earth! didn't you EXPECT me?" he cried. "I thought
you said--I thought--I must have forgotten--I must have got it
mixed up somehow. What a hideous mistake, what a blunder! What a
fool I am!"
He dropped into a chair against the wall and mopped his forehead
with a blue-bordered handkerchief.
"Well, what difference does it make, Condy?" said Travis quietly.
"I'll put another place for you."
"No, no!" he vociferated, jumping up. "I won't hear of it, I
won't permit it! You'll think I did it on purpose!"
Travis ignored his interference, and made a place for him opposite
the children, and had Maggie make some more chocolate.
Condy meanwhile covered himself with opprobrium.
"And all this trouble--I always make trouble everywhere I go.
Always a round man in a square hole, or a square man in a round
hole."
He got up and sat down again, crossed and recrossed his legs,
picked up little ornaments from the mantelpiece, and replaced them
without consciousness of what they were, and finally broke the
crystal of his watch as he was resetting it by the cuckoo clock.
"Hello!" he exclaimed suddenly, "where did you get that clock?
Where did you get that clock? That's new to me. Where did that
come from?"
"That cuckoo clock?" inquired Travis, with a stare.
Pages:
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30