“Oh, can’t I!” Fowler stood solemnly, the overhead lights making soft his harsh red hair, and he windmilled his arms, hooting, “Presto — vesto — adsit — Granddad Jes-sup — voilà!”
And there, coming through the doorway, sure enough WAS Granddad Jessup!
Doremus remained only ten minutes, saying to himself, “Anyway, nothing bad can happen here, in this solid household.” When Fowler saw him to the door, Doremus sighed to him, “Wish Davy were right — just had to sit in the office and not worry. But I suppose some day I’ll have a run-in with the Corpos.”
“I hope not. Nasty bunch. What do you think, Dad? That swine Shad Ledue told me yesterday they wanted me to join the M.M.‘s as medical officer. Fat chance! I told him so.”
“Watch out for Shad, Fowler. He’s vindictive. Made us rewire our whole building.”
“I’m not scared of Captain General Ledue or fifty like him! Hope he calls me in for a bellyache some day! I’ll give him a good sedative — potassium of cyanide. Maybe I’ll some day have the pleasure of seeing that gent in his coffin. That’s the advantage the doctor has, you know! G’-night, Dad! Sleep tight!”
A good many tourists were still coming up from New York to view the colored autumn of Vermont, and when Doremus arrived at the Beulah Valley Tavern he had irritably to wait while Lorinda dug out extra towels and looked up tram schedules and was polite to old ladies who complained that there was too much — or not enough — sound from the Beulah River Falls at night. He could not talk
