Schofield. "You'd better change your mind
about a cigar."
"No, I thank you. I was about to request the lit----"
"DO try one," Margaret urged. "I'm sure papa's are nice ones. Do
try----"
"No, I thank you. I remarked a slight coolness in the air, and my hat is
in the hallway. I was about to request----"
"I'll get it for you," said Penrod suddenly.
"If you will be so good," said Mr. Kinosling. "It is a black bowler hat,
little gentleman, and placed upon a table in the hall."
"I know where it is." Penrod entered the door, and a feeling of relief,
mutually experienced, carried from one to another of his three relatives
their interchanged congratulations that he had recovered his sanity.
"'The day is done, and the darkness,'" began Mr. Kinosling--and recited
that poem entire. He followed it with "The Children's Hour," and after a
pause, at the close, to allow his listeners time for a little reflection
upon his rendition, he passed his handagain over his head, and called,
in the direction of the doorway:
"I believe I will take my hat now, little gentleman."
"Here it is," said Penrod, unexpectedly climbing over the porch railing,
in the other direction. His mother and father and Margaret had supposed
him to be standing in the hallway out of deference, and because he
thought it tactful not to interrupt the recitations. All of them
remembered, later, that this supposed thoughtfulness on his part struck
them as unnatural.
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