"As this was a question which I had frequently asked myself during the night, having found no satisfactory answer to it, I said: 'What would you do in my place, Ethel?' But Ethel knew."

"'I should find out when he sails, and meet his steamer with a cowhide.'"

"'Then he would sue me for damages.'"

"'That would be nothing, if you got a few good cuts in on him.'"

"'Ethel,' I said, 'please follow me carefully. I should like dearly to cowhide him. and for the sake of argument we will consider it done Then comes the lawsuit. Then I get up and say that I beat him because he made me buy Standard Egg at 63 by telling me that his mother had some, when really the old lady had been dead for fifteen years. When I think of it in this way, I do not feel--'"

"I know,' interrupted Ethel, 'you are afraid of ridicule. All men are.'"

"Had Ethel insisted, I believe that I should have cowhided Mr. Beverly for her sake. But before his return our destinies were brightened. Copper had been found near Ethel's waste lands in Michigan, and the family business man was able to sell the property for seven hundred thousand dollars. He did this so promptly that I ventured to ask him if delay might not have brought a greater price. 'Well', he said, 'I don't know. You must seize these things. Blake and Beverly might have got tired waiting."

"'Blake and Beverly!' I exclaimed 'So they made the purchase. It Mr. Beverly back?'"