"
"You!" exclaimed Nance. "Oh! haven't I got a picture of you dancing. Wait
'til I show you!" And ably assisted by the bolster and the bedspread, she
gave a masterly imitation of her stout stepmother that made the original
limp with laughter. Then quite as suddenly, Nance collapsed into a chair
and grew very serious.
"Say!" she demanded earnestly, "honest to goodness now! Do you think
there's any sin in me going on the stage?"
"Sin!" repeated Mrs. Snawdor. "Why, I think it's elegant. I was sayin'
so to Mrs. Smelts only yesterday when she was takin' on about Birdie's
treatin' her so mean an' never comin' to see her or writin' to her.
'Don't lay it on the stage,' I says to her. 'Lay it on Birdie; she always
was a stuck-up piece.'"
Nance pondered the matter, her chin on her palm. Considering the chronic
fallibility of Mrs. Snawdor's judgment, she would have been more
comfortable if she had met with some opposition.
"Mr. Demry thinks it's wrong," said Nance, taking upon herself the role
of counsel for the prosecution. "He took on something fierce when he saw
me last night."
"He never knowed what he was doin'," Mrs. Snawdor said. "They tell me he
can play in the orchestry, when he's full as a nut."
"And there's Uncle Jed," continued Nance uneasily. "What you reckon he's
going to say?"
"You leave that to me," said Mrs. Snawdor, darkly. "Mr. Burks ain't
goin' to git a inklin' 'til you've went. There ain't nobody I respect
more on the face of the world than I do Jed Burks, but some people is
so all-fired good that livin' with 'em is like wearin' new shoes the
year round.
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