“Oh,” said Ellery, “he had sworn off that morning. You ought to have heard him to-day.”
“Perfectly willing to let it go at imagining,” said Ethel.
And then Minerva came out with the lilting walk that was hers when she was happy. She bore a tray and set it down on a rustic table that I remembered to have seen in the furniture store at Egerton the week before.
“Here’s to the ‘Tramp’s Rest,’” said Tom when we had all been provided with coffee. “I boney a cot in this house to-night. You fellows can sleep in rooms if you want. For me the stars through the cracks.”
CHAPTER XXIX
MINERVA AND THE SNAKE.
THE latter part of the week Ethel received a letter from Billy, saying that he and Jack would be delighted to come up.
Billy’s letter was characteristic. It ran:
“My Dear Mrs. Vernon:
“You are a kind, good lady. Jack agrees with me in this. You have saved our lives. It has been a long time since we sold any pictures, and we have forgotten the address of our bank, so we were not thinking of going to any summer resort this summer, but your invitation could not be refused without insulting you.