"Well, why not?" asked Miss Chase gaily. "Let's make up a party and all go back together. I am only allowed to stay two months, and then I must be off again. I will willingly pack you all up in my boxes and take you with me."
"What did I tell you?" said a deep voice from the window, and there stood Bob Cochrane on the veranda. "I said she would bewitch you and spirit you all away."
"You did, you did," said Peter, who had been drinking in every word; "you said you wouldn't like her."
"Oh, come, no tales out of school," said Bob, as he crossed the threshold and came forward to be introduced; "you are giving me a bad start, you know."
"I am sorry to have made such a bad impression at the outset," Miss Chase responded merrily as she shook hands. "Would it appease you at all if I offered to pack you with the rest?"
"I wouldn't if I were you, Dorothy," said Mr. Orban. "He would take such a fearful amount of room, even if you doubled him up."
Miss Chase smiled as she eyed the great big fellow.
"I wouldn't come if you paid me," Bob said lightly. "They tell me it is a toss up whether the climate or the people freeze you up most in England."
"Treason, treason, Bob," said Mrs. Orban. "Remember we are English."
"I guess you have mellowed in the sunshine," Bob said imperturbably. "Children, don't you listen to a good word about England; don't you let yourselves be spirited away by bad fairies, or you'll regret it."