“Oh!” from both boys.
“Right, sir; I’m off straight’s an arrow.”
“One minute, Mr. Hampden. You’ll have a glass of wine?”
“Excuse me, capen, but I’ve tasted it before, I reckon. Yes, sirree, once I took a thimbleful too much, and next day, sez I to myse’f, ‘No more liquor for Dumpty.’”
In a minute or two after this Dumpty was dashing over the snow to the spot where his tribe had been left.
The doctor entered now.
The steward had kept his dinner hot.
“The Teelies have gone back, sir, and peace is restored.”
He bowed and smiled to Ingomar, then sat down to dinner; but while he ate, only ordinary subjects were talked about.
Then Wright joined the circle round the fire, and, having cleared away, the steward considered himself privileged to stand in the doorway for a short time to listen.