"Why, it is all so sudden--and yet there is no good reason why we
shouldn't."

"Good!" cried Walter. "I'm coming, too! I never could leave old
Jack! Ho, for the West Indies!"





CHAPTER VIII

THE DREAM OF INEZ


"Oh, Walter, are you really going?"

"Do you mean it?"

"Are you joking?"

Thus Belle, Bess and Cora questioned Jack's chum, who stood in the
center of the library, one hand thrust between two buttons of his
coat, and the other raised above his head like some political orator
of the old school.

"Mean it? Of course I mean it!" he exclaimed, while Dr. Blake
chuckled. "I need a rest and change. Anyone will tell you that--er
my appetite is not what it once was."