"O" course not," she says; but I could tell from how she said it that she wouldn"t run down-town and horsewhip the editor if he made a mistake and printed about she and her costume; her costume wouldn"t of et up all the s.p.a.ce he had neither.

"How much does box seats cost?" I ast her.

"About six or seven dollars," she says.

"Well," I says, "let"s I and you show Hatch up."

"What do you mean?" she says.

"I mean we should ought to return the compliment," says I. "We should ought to give them a party right back."

"We"d be broke for six weeks," she says.

"Oh, we"d do it with their money like they done it with ours," I says.

"Yes," she says; "but if you can ever win enough from the Hatches to buy four box seats to the op"ra I"d rather spend the money on a dress."

"Who said anything about four box seats?" I ast her.

"You did," she says.

"You"re delirious!" I says. "Two box seats will be a plenty."

"Who"s to set in them?" ast the Missus.

"Who do you think?" I says. "I and you is to set in them."

"But what about the Hatches?" she says.

"They"ll set up where they was," says I. "Hatch picked out the seats before, and if he hadn"t of wanted that alt.i.tude he"d of bought somewheres else."

"Yes," says the Missus, "but Mrs. Hatch won"t think we"re very polite to plant our guests in the Alps and we set down in a box."

"But they won"t know where we"re settin"," I says. "We"ll tell them we couldn"t get four seats together, so for them to set where they was the last time and we"re goin" elsewheres."

"It don"t seem fair," says my wife.

"I should worry about bein" fair with Hatch," I says. "If he"s ever left with more than a dime"s worth o" cards you got to look under the table for his hand."

"It don"t seem fair," says the Missus.

"You should worry!" I says.

So we ast them over the followin" night and it looked for a minute like we was goin" to clean up. But after that one minute my Missus began collectin" pitcher cards again and every card Hatch drawed seemed like it was made to his measure. Well, sir, when we was through the lucky stiff was eight dollars to the good and Mrs. Hatch had about broke even.

"Do you suppose you can get them same seats?" I says.

"What seats?" says Hatch.

"For the op"ra," I says.

"You won"t get me to no more op"ra," says Hatch. "I don"t never go to the same show twicet."

"It ain"t the same show, you goof!" I says. "They change the bill every day."

"They ain"t goin" to change this eight-dollar bill o" mine," he says.

"You"re a fine stiff!" I says.

"Call me anything you want to," says Hatch, "as long as you don"t go over eight bucks" worth."

"Jim don"t enjoy op"ra," says Mrs. Hatch.

"He don"t enjoy nothin" that"s more than a nickel," I says. "But as long as he"s goin" to welsh on us I hope he lavishes the eight-spot where it"ll do him some good."

"I"ll do what I want to with it," says Hatch.

"Sure you will!" I says. "You"ll bury it. But what you should ought to do is buy two suits o" clo"es."

So I went out in the kitchen and split a pint one way.

But don"t think for a minute that I and the Missus ain"t goin" to hear no more op"ra just because of a cheap stiff like him welshin". I don"t have to win in no rummy game before I spend.

We"re goin" next Tuesday night, I and the Missus, and we"re goin" to set somewheres near Congress Street. The show"s _Armour"s Do Re Me_, a new one that"s bein" gave for the first time. It"s prob"ly named after some soap.

THREE KINGS AND A PAIR

Accordin" to some authorities, a person, before they get married, should ought to look up your opponent"s family tree and find out what all her relatives died of. But the way I got it figured out, if you"re sure they did die, the rest of it don"t make no difference. In exceptionable cases it may be all right to take a girl that part of her family is still livin", but not under no circ.u.mstances if the part happens to be a unmarried sister named Bessie.

We was expectin" her in about two weeks, but we got a card Sat.u.r.day mornin" which she says on it that she"d come right away if it was all the same to us, because it was the dull season in Wabash society and she could tear loose better at the present time than later on. Well, I guess they ain"t no time in the year when society in Wabash would collapse for she not bein" there, but if she had to come at all, the sooner it was over the better. And besides, it wouldn"t of did us no good to say aye, yes or no, because the postcard only beat her here by a few hours.

Not havin" no idear she was comin" so soon I didn"t meet the train, but it seems like she brought her escort right along with her. It was a guy named Bishop and she"d met him on the trip up. The news butcher introduced them, I guess. He seen her safe to the house and she was there when I got home. Her and my Missus was full of him.

"Just think!" the Missus says. "He writes motion-pitcher plays."

"And gets ten thousand a year," says Bess.

"Did you find out from the firm?" I ast her.

"He told me himself," says Bessie.

"That"s the right kind o" fella," says I, "open and above the board."

"Oh, you"ll like Mr. Bishop," says Bess. "He says such funny things."