biscuits, an' suchlike. I'd like to entertain Father McGowan, he's been good to us." 

 "Yes," answered Jeremiah. They were both silent. The vision of an overcrowded and smelling flat had come to sober them. Also the memory that always went with it.... "Play me 'The Shepherd Boy,'" said Jeremiah. He closed his eyes while Cecilia banged it out in very uneven tempo, owing to difficulties in the bass. 

 Johnny came in. He sat down on a lounge covered with a green and red striped cloth. He looked at Jeremiah with a supercilious expression. 

 "The other fellahs' fathers wears their shoes in the house," he stated coldly.  "The Shepherd Boy" stopped suddenly. Cecilia went toward the "parlor."  "Johnny!" she called on reaching it. Johnny followed meekly. The parlor was the torture chamber. When he went in Cecilia put her hands on his shoulders. 

 "Johnny," she said in her gentle little way. "Um?" he answered, wriggling beneath her hands. 

 "Johnny," she repeated, "it ain't polite to call down your paw." 

 "But Celie," objected John, "he ain't like the other fellahs' fathers. They wears collars an' shoes, all the time." 

 "I know, dear," said Cecilia.  "I know, but it ain't polite to call down your paw, an' nothing can make it so." 

 "Aw right," answered John sullenly. Cecilia leaned over and kissed him. John didn't mind, "none of the fellahs being around."  He went back to the living room. Jeremiah had put on his shoes. He looked at Johnny, awaiting his approval. 

 "An' Norah," said Cecilia, excited to the point of hysteria, "you see that I get the plate with the crack in it, an' the glass with the piece outa it." 

 "Sure, I will," answered Norah.  "Now go 'long." 

 Cecilia went to the dining room. They were going to eat there, because they were going to have company. Norah was not going to sit down with them either. It was to be most formal and "elegant." 

 And now for the decorations. Cecilia put on two candlesticks, each at a corner of the table. They did not match, but why be particular? Then she took a bunch of peonies, and, removing all foliage, jammed them tightly in a vase that had the shape of a petrified fibroid growth, and had accumulated gilt, and a seascape for decoration. 

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