Your father reviewed it, and said no family ought to be
without it."
"But you didn't bribe father, and you didn't copy from Snooks, I am
sure," said Gladys, determined to defend her father, even in his assumed
character.
"What was the name of your _thing_, papa?" asked Barbara.
"I don't know, my dear, I have not considered that matter."
"It was called 'The Burglar's Betrothal,'" said Valentine.
"And do you think that Snooks really wrote that review?" she continued,
contemplating her father through her eyeglass, for she was shortsighted.
"If you ask my sincere opinion, my dear, I must say that I think he did
not; but if some other man had signed it, I should have been sure. Which
now I never shall be."
Here the door was slowly opened, and the portly butler appeared, bearing
in his own hands a fine dish of potatoes; from the same plot, he
remarked to John, with those that had obtained the prize. The butler
looked proud.
"I feel as much elated," said John, "as if I had raised them myself. Is
Nicholas here?"
"Yes, sir, and he has been saying that if the soil of your garden could
only be kept dry, they would be finer still.
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