"Maybe it's mean to
laugh at folks that's been as kind to us as these Parkers have been, but
I never had such a job keepin' a straight face in my life. When she said
she was 'debilitated' at havin' to give us ham and toast that was funny
enough, but what come afterwards was funnier. The 'fraction' ain't
'ignited' yet and the doctors are worried. I should think they'd be more
worried if it had."
Emily shook her head. "I am glad I didn't have to answer that remark,
Auntie," she said. "I never could have done it without disgracing
myself. She is a genuine Mrs. Malaprop, isn't she?"
This was a trifle too deep for Mrs. Barnes, who replied that she didn't
know, she having never met the Mrs. What's-her-name to whom her cousin
referred. "She's a genuine curiosity, this Parker woman, if that's what
you mean, Emily," she said. "And so's her brother, though a different
kind of one. We must get Cap'n Bangs to tell us more about 'em in the
mornin'. He thinks that--that heirloom house of mine will look better
in the daylight. Well, I hope he's right; it looked hopeless enough
tonight, what I could see of it."
"I like that Captain Bangs," observed Emily.
"So do I. It seems as if we'd known him for ever so long. And how his
salt-water talk does take me back. Seems as if I was hearin' my father
and Uncle Abner--yes, and Eben, too--speakin'. And it is so sort of good
and natural to be callin' somebody 'Cap'n.' I was brought up amongst
cap'ns and I guess I've missed 'em more'n I realized.
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