word it's all over and she has backed off, givin' him the full benefit
of one of them twisty smiles. I was lookin' for him to blow up for
fair at that. He don't though.

"There, there!" says he. "Not in the least necessary, you know. But
if it was something you had to get out of your system, all right. So
you've been visiting, eh? Now, what?"

"Why, Marjorie's going back to her school, Sir," says Dudley, "and I to
college."

"Before the holidays are over?" says Mr. Ellins.

"Oh, we don't mind," says Marjorie. "We don't want to go home and open
up the house; for we should miss Mother so much."

"Suppose you finish out your vacation with us, then?" suggests Old
Hickory.

"Oh, thank you, Sir," says Dudley; "but we----"

"Mother wrote us, you see," breaks in Marjorie, "that we mustn't think
of bothering you another bit."

"Who says you're a bother?" he demands. "At this time of year I like
to have young folks around--if they're the right kind."

"But I'm not sure we are the right kind," says Marjorie. "I--I'm not
very serious, you know; and Dud's apt to be noisy. He thinks he can
sing."