this piazza?" and I said I knew he would. It was the finest ever.

We took hands and went around and looked at everything, and then we set
the table together. Aunty May wouldn't let Mrs. Katy Smith, who had
come to help, do a thing to the table. We set it for four people. So I
said, "Is company coming to dinner?" Aunty May hugged me and said, "Yes,
Billy, but it's a surprise. Don't ask." But I kept guessing,--Charlotte
and Grace Turner, and Mr. and Mrs. Turner, and everybody I knew in East
Penniwell, and Aunty May said, "You're cold. You're cold."

Just then a carriage stopped at our door, and Aunty Edith got out, and
then a thin pale man got out, and he carried a cane and leaned on Aunty
Edith, and he came into the room: And IT WAS UNCLE BURT!

[Illustration: And it was Uncle Burt]

I gave such a yell that Aunty Edith looked frightened and Aunty May
threw her arms about me and said, "Oh, Billy dear, don't get excited.
It's bad for--" But Uncle Burt said, "No, it isn't. It's good for me."
And he went to hug me, but Aunty May hadn't got her arms untwisted from
me yet, so that he hugged both of us. He didn't seem to notice it at
all until I pointed out to him that it was me he wanted and that he was
kissing Aunty May, and he said, "Dear me, you don't say so"--and kissed
her again. Then he kissed me.

He sat down, and Aunty May and me went and stood by him. That is, I
stood by him and leaned on his well knee, and Aunty May kneeled down and
put her head on his hurt knee, and he didn't seem to mind it at all. He
put his hand on her head and smiled over to Aunty Edith, and she came
and said, "Come, Billy, show me the house."