“Tell us one thing, dad, do!” said Master Clinton.
“Well, what is it, my boy?”
“When are we going?”
“In a very few days. I cannot tell you yet what day. Now run away.”
The boy scampered off, and his army of brothers and sisters followed him.
Judy also would have left the room, but Mrs. Moseley stopped her.
“Stay, my dear girl. We only sent the children away that they might give vent to their joy in the open air, as you hear them doing. Now, Moses!” said the lady.
“Well, my dear, it is only this: King will dine with us to-day, and I have invited Lawson, and Hill, and Perry to meet him. Is it too late to make some suitable addition to our family spread?” anxiously inquired the colonel.
“Oh! no, not if we put back the dinner an hour. There is a fine haunch of venison, a buffalo tongue, and a bunch of prairie fowl that I have just bought from an Indian. And then I will open my preserve jars in honor of the occasion, though I did not intend to touch them until Christmas.”
“You are a tower of strength, Dolly, my dear, but we shall not be here at Christmas. Now I have something to do over at the office. I will be back with King a little while before dinner,” concluded the colonel as he left the room.