"Don't you understand? Noll is traveling hot-foot to his own roof to see if the postman on that route has left a long envelope for him."
"Poor boy! I hope he has won his commission, too," sighed Mrs. Overton, wistfully.
"Oh, I think he has."
"He's a nice boy."
"Mother, he's one of the very best fellows in the world."
"I suppose Mr. Ad Interim will have a lot to say about Noll's commission, too," said Hal's mother.
"Ad interim is Latin, Mother. It means 'in the time between,' or something like that."
"Oh," smiled Mrs. Overton. "I didn't know but Ad was the bootblack at the Capitol."
"I feel like running right after Noll," murmured Hal.
"Don't you dare do it, my son. Don't you feel that I've any right to my boy's company in the first moments that such good news has come to him? Hal, I'm thinking how you'll look in your new uniforms—ad interim. Will you order a uniform at once?"