“Been on my good behavior all day, I would have you to know—and didn’t find it half so dull as I had anticipated.”
“Come, come, old fellow, none of that. You might as well confess first as last. There is a suspicious cut over your left eye which wasn’t there when you called early this afternoon. Besides, you’re all over shavings. There’s a story back of it, I’m sure.”
“If you must have it, old pry, when the storm gathered, I encountered the most laughable old woman,” and with a chuckle of intense enjoyment at the recollection, he launched forth into the story of the Laughing Gallery episode, and it lost nothing by the telling.
“Do have some of this sweet clover for dessert,” pressed the Duke as Billy finished the recital. “The flavor is delicious, I think.”
Billy accepted a liberal portion of the dainty, and the Duke, feeling it his bounden duty to reprove his friend for his prank, looked very solemn and began:
“Billy Whiskers, it seems to me that a goat of your broad experience ought to have better sense than you possess, and you’re a disgrace to Cloverleaf Farm!”
“Don’t preach to me! You’re not an example I’d care to follow!”
“Which reminds me to ask if anything has occurred at Cloverleaf Farm since my departure,” calmly finished the Duke.
“Um—um,” from Billy, as he busily munched the scented hay. “Um—um, I guess there has! More than I can begin to tell you before our bedtime!”
“I’m all ears, as the donkey would say,” and the calf playfully tweaked Billy to hurry him with the news.