" He calls Murray "the Innocent," though I've snubbed
him for it pretty sharply, and whenever he gets a chance, he makes fun
of Hilliard's slow ways, when old Hill is worth a dozen or two of such
blowers as he. I almost wish Murray'd give the bediamonded cad a
thrashing,--only that the fellow's not worth his touching. Phil and
I neither drink nor smoke; we've never spoken about it to each other,
but we know that our--mother--would not have liked us to do any of
these things, so we let them alone.
I think Chad knows that I've no liking for him,--to put it mildly,--and
that he returns the compliment. I try not to quarrel with him; in
fact,--though it goes awfully against the grain,--I make an effort to be
civil, so as to see, hear, and know all that goes on between himself and
Phil, and to be able to guard Phil from him without Phil's knowing it.
I've said a few things to warn Phil; but I had to be careful, for he's
such an old Quixote that, if he thought I was particularly down on Chad,
he'd begin to take up the cudgels for him. But he _sha'n't_ get hold of
Phil, I declare he sha'n't,--not as long as I am here. I wish to
goodness he hadn't ever come near us!
Nannie is the only one to whom I've said anything of my fear, and she
laughs it away.
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