"Merely to tell one another the good news!" Mr. Jennings said sourly
from his corner.

Honest, it was funny. If some folks were healthy they'd be lonesome.

But when things had got quiet--except Mr. Moody dropping nickels into
the slot-machine--I happened to look over at Miss Patty, and I saw there
was something wrong. She had a letter open in her lap not one of the
blue ones with the black and gold seal that every one in the house knew
came from the prince but a white one, and she was staring at it as if
she'd seen a ghost.





CHAPTER V

WANTED--AN OWNER

I have never reproached Miss Patty, but if she had only given me the
letter to read or had told me the whole truth instead of a part of it,
I would have understood, and things would all have been different. It is
all very well for her to say that I looked worried enough already, and
that anyhow it was a family affair. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD.

All she did was to come up to me as I stood in the spring, with her face
perfectly white, and ask me if my Dicky Carter was the Richard Carter
who stayed at the Grosvenor in town.