“Well, well!” he exclaimed. “I’m glad to see you, Cousin Rusty. And I’m certainly surprised, for it’s more than a year since you’ve paid me a visit.”
“Aren’t you glad to see me, too?” Mr. Frog piped up a bit anxiously.
“Certainly—to be sure!” said Long Bill. “But I’m not so surprised—though I understand that you usually attend a singing-party about this time o’ day.”
“Yes!” said Mr. Frog. “But I’d much prefer to come to yours.”
“My what?” inquired Long Bill Wren, as a puzzled look appeared upon his face.
“Your party, of course!” Mr. Frog replied with a wide smile.
Now, Rusty Wren wished he had not called at Mr. Frog’s shop at all. If he had only come straight to his cousin’s house, he thought that he would have spared himself—and his cousin, too—a good deal of trouble. And, since he didn’t know what to say, he kept still for a few moments and let the others do all the talking.
Meanwhile, Long Bill hopped briskly outside his house, and joined them on the ground.
“My party!” he cried. “Why, I know of no party here! Somebody has made a mistake. I haven’t given a party for a year—just a year ago to-day.... I invited you at that time,” he told Rusty Wren, “but you didn’t come. And I never received any word from you about the matter.”
“That’s strange!” said Rusty. “This is the first I ever heard of the affair.”