from his coat and cap, seized his aunt around the waist, and after two
or three hearty kisses, commenced waltzing around the parlor with her,
talking incessantly, and telling her how delighted he was to be at
Grey's Park again.

"Only think, I have not seen you for more than a year, and I've been to
Europe since, and am a traveled young man. Don't you see marks of
foreign culture in me?" and he laughed mischievously, for he knew his
aunt would comprehend his meaning. "Then, too," he continued, "I'm an
Andover chap now, but find it awful poky. I almost wish I had gone to
Easthampton. Such fun as the boys have there! Sent a whole car-load of
gates down to Springfield one night! I'd like to have seen the
Easthamptonites when they found their gates gone, and the Springfielders
when they opened that car. Holloa, mother! Isn't it jolly here? And
don't you smell the mince pies? I am going to eat two pieces!" And the
wild boy waltzed into the library in time to see his mother drop
languidly into an arm-chair, with the air of one who had endured all it
was possible to endure, and who considered herself a martyr.

"Pray be quiet, and come and unfasten my cloak. You forget that your
Aunt Lucy is no longer young, to be whirled round like a top."

"Young or not, she is as pretty as a girl, any day," Grey replied,
releasing his aunt and hastening to his mother.

Knowing her sister's dislike to the country, Miss Grey had spared no
pains to make the house as attractive as possible. There was no furnace,
but there were fires in every grate, and in the wide fire-place in the
large dining-room, where the bay-window looked out upon the hills and
the pretty little pond. Lucy's greenhouse had been stripped of its