It didn't make much difference to me whether you came or not." "Then, sir, I must say that, of all the impudent--" "S-s-h-h! for the land sakes! Speechmakin' must be as bad as the rum habit, when a feller's got it chronic as you have.

No, it didn't make much difference to me whether you came or not.

But, honest, you've got to be a kind of Bunker Hill monument to the folks back home.

They kneel down at your foundations and look up at you, and tell each other how many foot high you are, and what it cost to build you, and how you stand for patriotism and purity, till--well, _I_ couldn't see you tumble down without givin' you a chance.

I couldn't; 'twould be like blowin' up a church." The purple had left the Atkins face, but the speechmaking habit is not likely to be broken.
"Cyrus Whittaker," he stammered, "have you been drinking?
Your language to me is abominable.