“Trying to get ahead of Mamma.”
“Why, Montmorency!” cried the gentleman, with an assumed sternness yet a twinkle in his eye.
“Fact. She’s on the road somewhere, but she had to wait for them to hitch up a rig first. Thinks she can’t walk these few blocks alone, I suppose, and didn’t suspect I could have escorted her. But ‘Lovey’ didn’t tell her his plans till he knows if he can carry them out. But I’m glad to see you. I didn’t want to do anything sort of underhand with you, you know. Say, Judge, does your invitation to go camping still hold good? After my looking such a muff and acting it?”
“Certainly. If your parents permit, I shall be glad to have you. I think that a few weeks’ association with men like my friends would give you a new idea of true manliness; and I can promise you to hear more good stories from the ‘Boys’ than you ever heard in your life.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m going to wire Papa to let me stay. What he says goes, even with Mamma. He lets her have her way about my school, and clothes and all that stuff, but he hasn’t ever quite let go of me himself. If it hadn’t been for Papa I’d be a bigger muff than I am now. Only he’s so awfully absorbed in business that he never takes a vacation himself or does anything except pile up the cash and shove it out for Mamma to spend. Beg pardon, I’ve no business to tell you, or bother you, with our affairs. I only wanted to know in case he says ‘Yes.’”
They were almost at the end of their short walk and the Judge’s face lightened with a whimsical expression, as he answered:
“Well, Monty lad, muffs are mighty handy sometimes. I heard Lucretia say they wore them large last winter! If I take a muff into camp I shall expect it to add to the general comfort of the party. Ready to warm the heart of anybody who happens to get lonely or out of sorts.”
“This muff will do its duty, sir. You’ll see; if—”
He left his sentence unfinished and although his response was delayed till after Mrs. Stark’s had been received he did not complain of it, but smilingly handed it to the Judge to peruse.
His outward telegram had been: