“I am getting better every day,” he admitted. “This life of freedom is doing me a lot of good. There is nothing really the matter with me but constant worry and nagging, you know.”
“And that reminds me,” said the American boy. “You will have to give up your life of freedom, as you call it, for a day or two and go to St. Augustine with your family. They are all going to-morrow night.”
“Oh, fizzle,” exclaimed the other. “Why can’t Grandmamma stay in one place for a week at a time? We came over to New York on business and she couldn’t rest until she got here and now she wants to go somewhere else.”
“It’s only for two days,” continued Edward l’Estrange. “They want to see the city. That’s all.”
“I say, Edward,” said his counterpart in a coaxing voice, “won’t you go in my place?”
“I’m afraid to. I can’t always remember to say ‘been’ as you do and they might find out. You see, I shall have to be with them constantly. Now I only see them at meals and I never talk unless some one asks me a question.”
The English Edward was silent for a few minutes. For the first time in all his days he had been happy. He had tasted the joy of being his own master and of living his own life. He had not even minded the work, although he was not as diligent as the other boy and twice Billie had scolded him about the appearance of the Comet which was not in its usual spick and span order.
“Look here,” he said at last, “I’m so anxious for another week’s happiness that I’d be willing to do almost anything to get it. Didn’t you tell me when you undertook this business that money was the thing in the world you needed most?”
“Yes,”
“Would you do it for twenty pounds? That’s about a hundred dollars in your money.”