“Finally, I plucked up courage and went down, but do you know what those girls did when I came into the room? Well, they tried to be polite and all that, but they were mightily tickled about something, and pretty quick one of them got up and made a rush for the window and made out that she was looking out into the storm; but I could see her put her handkerchief to her face as if she was crying, and then the other three girls went to join her and see the dark, and then one of them said, ‘Tee-hee,’ and before you could say Jack Robinson they were laughing with ‘inextinguishable laughter,’ as our Homer has it.
“She looked at me a minute, as if she didn’t know what to make of it.”
“At last one of them turned to me, and I was glad to see her blush, for she ought to have been ashamed of herself, and I think she was, and she said, ‘You must excuse us, Mr. Dallett. We are ashamed of ourselves, but really we couldn’t help it. If you will come over here with me you’ll see for yourself what it is that troubles us.’ Well, I went over and she stood me up in front of a mirror and what do you suppose I saw, fellows? There was a chap looking at me from that mirror, and he was a little pee-culiar I must admit. The coat he had on was about three sizes too small for him. His trousers were about four inches above the tops of his shoes, and he looked as if he was mostly hands and feet.
“Well, I laughed. I couldn’t help it, and we had a good time, after all. You see, Miss Bessie had three of her classmates with her spending the vacation, and they’re a lively lot, I can tell you. I had a good time, and this morning, clothed in my right mind and also in my proper garb, they brought me back to camp in their steam-yacht.”
It was the middle of the afternoon before Ben’s story was ended, and after they had given vent to their delight over the safe return of their friend, Ethan said, “Ye don’t want me to stay any longer to-day, do ye?”
“No, Ethan. You can go home. Come over early to-morrow morning.”
“To-morrow’s Sunday,” said Ethan, soberly.
“You don’t mean it?” exclaimed Jock. “I’m ashamed to say I’d actually forgotten even the days of the week.”
“I’ll come over and take ye all to church,” suggested Ethan.