“Hully Gee, ain’t it nice an’ light in here!” presently exclaimed a boy’s voice from the doorway.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’ve come, Jolly! Come right in and take a chair,—take two chairs!” laughed Morry, in his excess of welcome. It was always great when Jolly came! He and the Troubles were not acquainted; they were never in the room at the same time.
Morry’s admiration of this small bepatched, befreckled, besmiled being had begun with his legs, which was not strange, they were such puffectly straight, limber, splendid legs and could go—my! Legs like that were great!
But it was noticeable that the legs were in some curious manner telescoped up out of sight, once Jolly was seated. The phenomenon was of common occurrence,—they were always telescoped then. And nothing had ever been said between the two boys about legs. About arms, yes, and eyes, ears, noses,—never legs. If Morry understood the kind little device to save his feelings, an instinctive knowledge that any expression of gratitude would embarrass Jolly must have kept back his ready little thank you.
“Can you hunt up things?” demanded the small host with rather startling energy. He was commonly a quiet, self-contained host. “Because there’s a word—”
But Jolly had caught up his cap, untelescoped the kind little legs, and was already at the door. Nothing pleased him more than a commission from the Little White Feller in the soft chair there.
“I’ll go hunt,—where’d I be most likely to find him?”
The Little White Feller rarely laughed, but now—“You—you Jolly boy!” he choked, “you’ll find him under a hay-stack fast aslee— No, no!” suddenly grave and solicitous of the other’s feelings, “in the dictionary, I mean. Words, don’t you know?”
“Oh, get out!” grinned the Jolly boy, in glee at having made the Little White Feller laugh out like that, reg’lar-built. “Hand him over, then, but you’ll have to do the spellin’.”
“Rec-om-pense,—p-e-n-s-e,” Morry said, slowly, “I found it in a magazine,—there’s the greatest lot o’ words in magazines! Look up ‘rec,’ Jolly,—I mean, please.”