“Thank you, sir,” said Ralph, “but I had resolved not to drink anything until after I graduate; I am not lacking in appreciation, sir, but I hope you will excuse me.”
“Of course Colonel Bollup will excuse you,” said Mrs. Bollup; “you are just right, Mr. Osborn, and I wish Tom would follow your example. Tom, you’ve already had one julep to-day; you ought not to drink another.”
“Pshaw, a julep will never hurt him,” said Colonel Bollup. “All right, Mr. Osborn, I’m sorry you won’t join us,” and in fact he was quite disappointed; “but here’s good luck to you, sir,” and he drank his julep and then took the one Ralph had declined and drank that with much apparent enjoyment; and young Tom Bollup drank his julep in a manner that showed that a julep was nothing strange or new to him.
With the Bollups Ralph was ushered into a kind of life he had never known. The nearest neighbor lived three miles away, and the Bollup family were sufficient unto themselves. The estate covered more than a thousand acres though but little of it was now cultivated. In the morning there were pleasant drives and in the late afternoon delightful walks along the beautiful James River. An easy comradeship soon sprang up between Ralph and Gladys Bollup, and they frequently wandered away by themselves.
“Oh, Mr. Osborn,” said Gladys, late one afternoon, while they were idly resting, “I’m so glad you didn’t take that mint julep; Tom takes them all the time, and papa encourages him to. Sometimes I worry for fear he may take too much; if he should you will try to influence him, won’t you?” And Gladys looked at Ralph with a mute appeal in her tender blue eyes that made him feel it would be a great happiness for him if he could do anything for this dear girl.
“Indeed you needn’t worry, Miss Gladys,” he said. “Tom never took a drink at the Academy the two years he has been there; he is one of my two best friends; you may be sure there’s nothing on earth I wouldn’t do for him if I could. Don’t worry over the juleps; he’ll forget about them. But how you must love it here! I could not imagine a more beautiful home. There is your grand old house, with its beautiful, attractive grounds, the beautiful lawns, the majestic old trees situated on this glorious river. I should think you would never want to leave it.”
“I’m always glad to get back, but it gets lonely after a time; I’m going to a school in Staunton during the winters; we have lots of good times there, but the old place does look friendly when I come back to it. But it’s getting late and supper will be waiting, so let’s go back to the house.”
After supper the family gathered on the porch, as usual, chatting till bedtime.
“That Lambo has been seen around here again,” remarked Colonel Bollup.
“I hope the scoundrel is caught,” exclaimed Tom. “I’d like to pull on a rope that would swing him off the earth.”