companionable with his papers than without them.

She merely said, "Let me take the _Sunrise_," when she had
poured out his coffee, and he had helped her to cantaloupe and
steak, and spread his _Advertiser_ beside his plate. He had the
_Sunrise_ in his lap.

"No, you may have the _Advertiser_" he said, handing it over
the table to her. "I was down first, and I got both the papers. I'm
not really obliged to make any division, but I've seen the
_Advertiser_, and I'm willing to behave unselfishly. If you're
very impatient for the police report in the _Sunrise_ I'll read
it aloud for you. I think that will be a very good test of its
quality, don't you?"

He opened the little sheet, and smiled teasingly at his wife, who
said, "Yes, read it aloud; I'm not at all ashamed of it."

She put the _Advertiser_ in her lap, and leaned defiantly
forward, while she stirred her coffee, and Sewell unfolded the
little sheet, and glanced up and down its columns. "Go on! If you
can't find it, I can."

"Never mind! Here it is," said Sewell, and he began to read--

"'The mill opened yesterday morning with a smaller number of grists
than usual, but they made up in quality what they lacked in
quantity.'

"Our friend's metaphor seems to have weakened under him a little,"