"I don't know but I had better go to the cottage, whether you can go or not," continued Mrs. Le Bras; "for then he and Clyde will wear out and soil Louis' furniture instead of ours. Clyde has nearly ruined my dress already, by jumping up upon me in his good-natured way; and I have been around trying to get stains off of the upholstering of the chairs. As for Sue, I cannot pretend to dress her up at all nicely while the dog is around; and I know it frets Johnny very much to have the mud-stains on his new drab suit. If we were at the seaside, the children could dress in common clothes, and there would be more harmless outdoor amusements."
"It will never do for you to take the whole charge of that boy: it would make you ill. He must be under the eye of a man; I will see to him: and as for Clyde, I will soon settle him. I hope to be able to leave my business a while by the first of August, and then we will go to the cottage: by coming back for a few days at a time, now and then, I think I can stay some weeks; and whenever I come back, I shall bring Felix with me, unless he has greatly improved."
Just then Johnny came in, and asked his father if he would let him take his large tape-measure.
"What do you want it for?" replied Mr. Le Bras.
"I want to show Felix how to find out what part of an acre there is in our yard."
"Hasn't he learned enough arithmetic to do that himself?"
"No, sir: he's been over as far as I have, but he says he don't know any thing about square measure."
"I'll warrant!" replied Mr. Le Bras, taking the measure from one of the drawers under the library-shelves, and handing it to Johnny.
When Johnny reached the garden again, he found Felix on the roof of the shed.
"Come down, and help me measure, Felix," he said.