"Oh! we can make a palanquin for her."
"Your plan, Jack, is not particularly bright; it puts me in mind of some genius or other that took shelter in the water to keep out of the wet."
"Very odd," said Jack, "we are always wishing for rain, and when it comes, we do all we can to keep out of its way."
"That is, because we are neither green pease nor gooseberries," said Ernest, drily.
"True, brother; and as the rain is your affair, perhaps you will be good enough to delay it for an hour or so."
"I am sorry on my own account, as well as yours, that I have not yet discovered the art of controlling the skies."
Here Fritz whispered a few words in his mother's ear, that called up one of those ineffable smiles that the maternal heart alone can produce.
"Well," said Mrs. Becker, "if you think so, deliver the message yourself."
"Mrs. Wolston," said Fritz, "I am charged to invite you and your family to Falcon's Nest this day week."
"The invitation is accepted, unless my daughters have any objections to urge."