“And did you look in Mr. Bishop’s dark-room?”
“No sir,” again replied Rollo.
“Then you see, Rollo,” said his father, “you may well have been mistaken. Let us say no more about it.”
Rollo’s family now felt themselves thoroughly equipped to receive and to mingle with society. How they did so will be described in the next chapter.
ROLLO’S DAY WITH A
DÉBUTANTE
HOW OUR INNOCENT LITTLE HERO APPEARED AT THE RITZ WITH HIS VERY MODERN COUSIN
One day Rollo was sitting on the little green cricket, which Jonas had made for him, in a very discontented frame of mind. He was staring at the open fireplace, in which were three birch logs; or rather he had at first thought they were logs, until Jonas pointed out to him that they were only clever imitations made of iron, full of tiny holes, through which flowed an evil-smelling odour called gas when Jonas turned a small faucet. Rollo was at first mightily amused at these logs, and admired especially the life-like way in which the bark was shown to be covered with moss on one side.
“They are much prettier than real logs,” said he, and thought he should never tire of turning them on and off and making them sparkle and blaze and smell.