..
she is the one who generally demands to be waited on, and if--"
* * * * *
And now, for the moment, all of us were combined against the master of
the house ... furtively and jocularly combined, like naughty
children....
Hildreth smuggled forth her coffee percolator, which she kept hidden
from her husband's search ... and we soon, by the aid of an alcohol
stove, had a cup of fragrant coffee a-piece ... which Darrie made....
"Penton swears coffee is worse than whiskey, the rankest of poisons. We
have to hide the percolator from him."
"He lies a-bed late, when he wakes. He lies there thinking out what he
will later on dictate to Ruth.... we can finish before--"
But just then Penton himself came hurrying up the path from the little
cottage.
When he saw what we were doing he gave us such a look of solemn disgust
that we nearly smothered with laughter, which we tried to suppress.
"When you take that percolator off the table--" he stood aloof, "I'll
sit down with you."
Then we laughed outright, not in disrespect of him, but as children
laugh at a humorous incident at school.
"Oh, yes, it might seem funny ... so does a drunken man who gives up his
reason to a drug seem funny.... but it's no more a joke than that ...
coffee is a vile poison ... I have a sense of humour," he continued,
turning to me, "just as keen as the next one .
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