“No, you little goose! But this is the bond,—the sign manual——”
“Oh, Little Billee! what a joke! But I accept my bond,—I glory in it! Oh, Billee, what a beauty pearl it is!”
“The purest and best I could find,—for my own Patty Blossom. Now, I’ve bad news, darling.”
“Bad news soon told, Br’er Fox,” smiled Patty, quoting from her well-beloved Uncle Remus. “What is it?”
CHAPTER III
CAPTAIN BILL
“It’s this,” said Farnsworth, looking serious. “I have to go to Washington.”
“Good gracious!” exclaimed Patty, “one would think you were booked for Kamschatka or Siberia, the way you say it!”
“But I mean, I have to go there to stay.”
“How long?”
“Indefinitely. I’ve no idea how long; also—I may have to go further yet.”