"Gone off? Why, pa, ain't that too bad? I'm right up and down
disappointed. But, then, the colonel has a wife; I can go to see her,
you know; and I'll tell her just how you're situ--"

"My Aunt Madge is gone off, too."

"You don't say so!"

"And my brother Hollis is gone."

"This is a funny piece of work if it's true," said Mr. Brooks, with
another genuine laugh; "you'd better ask her a few more questions before
you start out. Who else is gone? Have they shut the house up?"

"Yes, sir; shut it right up tight."

"Nobody in it, at all?"

"No, only the men and women. Prudy's gone, and Dotty Dimple's gone, and
I'm gone."

"Only the men and women, she says. That must be the servants. So the
house must be open, pa. At any rate, I shall take her. Say by-bye, my
pretty, and we'll be starting."

Fly was very glad to go, but Maria clung to her fondly, and Bennie ran
after her almost to Broadway, where Mrs. Brooks took a Fifth Avenue
stage. She knew Colonel Allen's house very well, for she had seen it
more than once, while it was in process of building. That was two or