"Yes, you do; and that's why, when I have any plan, I always think first of you. Dear Chum is so afraid of doing wrong, and Uncle Evas is so just—straight-ahead-going, that a secret is really no use at all with him! He blurts it out at the most inconvenient moment! He is a dear old duck all the same! He sits up all night, or did, to write my business letters because Aunt Dove couldn't bear to see him do it. Well, but that's not what I wanted to ask you about."
"Any more stray sheep, Toney? They're pretty thick on the ground as it is!"
"I hope they are all in the fold to-night, but I want to talk about Jeanie and Maud Hamilton. I know you would like them to have something nice and so you can best help me."
"My dear Toney, they wouldn't like being tabulated," said Lewis laughing.
"No, of course not. I wish Mr. Russell had not that craze; however, Pups used to say, 'every man knows what crutch suits him best.' I never quite knew what he meant, but I do now: Mr. Russell finds that big book his crutch."
"But what about the Hamiltons? You know Aunt Honoria and I are always delighted to have them with us. My Uncle Hamilton was an easy-going spendthrift, and never thought what would happen when he died, so when he departed this life, they said he had quietly eaten more than half his capital."
"I daresay he helped other people, so that's just the reason why other people should take care of his children. Jeanie loves music and wants to go to Vienna, I heard her say so, and Maud—Maud is nice, isn't she?"
"Yes, she is vastly improved."
"Yes, and she is what Aunt Dove calls a 'real lady.' Of course she looked hard at me when she said it! She meant I wasn't, and I'm not, I know I wasn't born that way—— Well, I want somehow to give Maud a good time and Jeanie too at Vienna. I want to pay all their masters and expenses, and how is it to be managed without letting them know it?"
"Toney, you really mustn't—— Besides, there's no way of doing it."