"Capital! capital!" exclaimed Carrie, never suspecting that there had
been a listener, even John Jr., who all the while was sitting in the
back parlor.

"Whew!" thought the young man. "Plotting, are they? Well, I'll see
how good I am at counterplotting."

So, slipping quietly out of the house, he went in quest of his
servant, Bill, telling him to go after Fleetfoot, whom he was to put
in the lower stable instead of the one where she was usually kept;
"and then in the morning, long before the sun is up," said he, "do
you have her at the door for one of the young ladies to ride."

"Yes, marster," answered Bill, looking around for his old straw hat.

"Now, see how quick you can go," John Jr. continued, adding as an
incentive to haste, that if Bill would get the pony stabled before
old Caesar, who had gone to Versailles, should return, he would give
him ten cents.

Bill needed no other inducement than the promise of money, and
without stopping to find his hat, he started off bare-headed, upon
the run, returning in the course of an hour and claiming his reward,
as Caesar had not yet got home.

"All right," said John Jr., tossing him the silver. "And now
remember to keep your tongue between your teeth."

Bill had kept too many secrets for his young master to think of
tattling about something which to him seemed of no consequence