“The new governess,” they cried in one breath.
“What! heard any more about her?” he asked, eagerly.
“No, we’re just wondering——”
“Ugh! Just wondering—just like girls; that’s all you’re good for—wondering.”
Then there was an uproar, and five pairs of feet chased him round the verandah, and five pairs of arms imprisoned him.
“You’re always wondering yourself,” they cried, “and you’re too conceited to let on.”
“Yes, ’course he is, ’course he is.”
Then Willie set to wondering in real earnest, and he bet she’d be cross as two sticks, and wear ugly old dresses and couldn’t understand a fellow liking sheep-mustering, and drafting and all that, and he bet she’d never go for a swim in the river with them, and he bet she’d never fish, or if she did catch one she wouldn’t be able to take it off the line, and she’d be calling all over the place for him to do it, and she’d always be wanting him to put the bait on. Well, she needn’t get calling for him, for he just wasn’t going to stand it; if a fellow went fishing, he was going to fish and not go baiting a line for an old governess!
“Yes, and I’ll bet she’ll hate country life,” declared Eileen, eagerly.
“Of course she will,” echoed Willie. “She won’t know a thing about it. I say,” he went on, growing brighter, “we might have some fun with the old party”—(for Willie was sadly deteriorating in his manners lately); “yes, we might have some fun, you know, if we get her mounted on old Nigger and teach her to ride——”