Ha! ha! Guess you are pretty well scorched, sure
enough!" and he leaned back in his chair and wiped his hot face.
"Yes, she _has_ scorched me! Those verses are burnt into my memory and
repeat themselves in spite of me. But you seemed to have studied up the
whole business of shad-fishing just for the occasion."
"But, on my honor, Plaisted, I was entirely ignorant that my talk was
annoying you. Come to think of it, Dexie herself kept me at it. How she
must have enjoyed it!" and he laughed again. "I thought it strange that
she ordered shad for dinner," said Mrs. Sherwood. "Yet she actually asked
me to scold her before you all if they were not cooked satisfactorily."
"You will not have a chance to call her 'Dexter' again," said Gussie,
"unless you want to be addressed as Shadrach or Shad. Whichever you dislike
the most, you will be sure to get. Now I understand what she meant when she
asked me before dinner if I would praise the shad," and she joined her
father's laugh; it was so contagious.
"Well, I will be compelled to cry quits, sure enough," said Plaisted; "but
I never suspected that she could make such comical verses.
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