"We must have a game party next week. The girls like that, and so
do I," candidly observed Gus, whose pleasant parlors were the
scene of many such frolics.

"And so do your sisters and your cousins and your aunts," hummed
Ed, for Gus was often called Admiral because he really did possess
three sisters, two cousins, and four aunts, besides mother and
grandmother, all living in the big house together.

The boys promptly joined in the popular chorus, and other voices
all about the yard took it up, for the "Pinafore" epidemic raged
fearfully in Harmony Village that winter.

"How's business?" asked Gus, when the song ended, for Ed had not
returned to school in the autumn, but had gone into a store in the
city.

"Dull; things will look up toward spring, they say. I get on well
enough, but I miss you fellows dreadfully;" and Ed put a hand on
the broad shoulder of each friend, as if he longed to be a
school-boy again.

"Better give it up and go to college with me next year," said Frank,
who was preparing for Boston University, while Gus fitted for
Harvard.

"No; I've chosen business, and I mean to stick to it, so don't you
unsettle my mind. Have you practised that March?" asked Ed,
turning to a gayer subject, for he had his little troubles, but always
looked on the bright side of things.