"Won't he! that shows you don't know Bopp as well as I. He'll come
to say good-by, to thank mother for her kindness, and you and me for
the little things we've done for him (I wish I'd left the last
undone!), and go away like a gentleman, as he is,--see if he don't."

"Do you think so? Then I must see him."

"I'm sure he will, for we men don't bear malice and sulk and bawl
when we come to grief this way, but stand up and take it without
winking, like the young Spartan brick when the fox was digging into
him, you know."

"Then, of course, you'll forgive Fan."

"I'll be hanged if I do," growled Dick.

"Ah ha! your theory is very good, sir, but your practice is bosh,"
quoted Dolly, with a gleam of the old mischief in her face.

Dick took a sudden turn through the room, burst out laughing, and
came back, saying heartily,--

"I'll own up; it is mean to feel so, and I'll think about forgiving
you both; but she may stop up the hole in the wall, for she won't
get any more letters just yet; and you may devote your epistolary
powers to A. Bopp in future. Well, what is it? free your mind, and
have done with it; but don't make your nose red, or take the starch
out of my collar with any more salt water, if you please."