"
"I'll risk it," said Lapham, with the confidence of a man
used to success.
From the veranda the sound of Penelope's lazy tone came
through the closed windows, with joyous laughter from
Irene and peals from Corey.
"Listen to that!" said her father within, swelling up with
inexpressible satisfaction. "That girl can talk for twenty,
right straight along. She's better than a circus any day.
I wonder what she's up to now."
"Oh, she's probably getting off some of those yarns
of hers, or telling about some people. She can't step
out of the house without coming back with more things
to talk about than most folks would bring back from Japan.
There ain't a ridiculous person she's ever seen but what
she's got something from them to make you laugh at;
and I don't believe we've ever had anybody in the house
since the girl could talk that she hain't got some
saying from, or some trick that'll paint 'em out so't you
can see 'em and hear 'em. Sometimes I want to stop her;
but when she gets into one of her gales there ain't any
standing up against her. I guess it 's lucky for Irene
that she's got Pen there to help entertain her company.
I can't ever feel down where Pen is."
"That's so," said the Colonel. "And I guess she's got
about as much culture as any of them. Don't you?"
"She reads a great deal," admitted her mother.
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