"Unfortunately I do not keep a cow here!" Nattie replied, tartly.
Not quite polite in Nattie, this. But do not the circumstances plead strongly in her excuse? For, remember, she was not one of those impossible, angelic young ladies of whom we read, but one of the ordinary human beings we meet every day.
The owner of the nose, however, was not charitable, and drew herself up loftily, as she said in imperative accents,
"You did not answer my question! Do you have to learn the sound of each letter so as to distinguish them from each other?"
Nattie constrained herself to reply, very shortly,
"Yes!"
"Can you take a message and talk to me at the same time?" pursued the investigator.
"No!" was Nattie's emphatic answer, as she looked ruefully at her dress.
"But your instrument there is going it now. Ain't they sending you a message?" went on the relentless owner of the nose.
At this Nattie turned her attention a moment to what was being done "on the wire," and breathed a sigh of relief. For "X n" had given place to another office and she replied,
