"'Suppose there was a meeting held in the school-house, would anybody come?'
"And they seemed very much pleased, and agreed to give notice to all the neighbours round about. So on talking the matter over, we concluded that some singing would add to the interest of the occasion and show that we were in earnest ourselves, and so we concluded to ask the girls to join in—or, if you like it better, to invite the young ladies to participate. And there you have the story in a nutshell."
"But who is to conduct this meeting?" asked Gerty, not without suspicion that Bram was mystifying her.
"Why, Harry, of course. Who else?"
"Oh, excuse me. I didn't suppose that kind of thing was in Harry's line at present but perhaps it is as well to begin in season."
"It has been very much in my line the last year, I assure you," said Harry. "Three of our men have kept three different meetings going ever since the beginning of last term. One was six miles away, and the man whose turn it was, used to ride about as gallant a steed as Old Gray. Only for the name, I really think it would have been less trouble to walk."
"Where did you get this horse of yours?" asked Mr. Van Alstine, with a glance at Asahel.
"Oh, we hired him of an old couple who thought him a compound of all the virtues ever put into a horse's skin—Bucephalus and Pegasus too, for aught I know."
"I suppose that was the origin of the story Gerty heard about your hiring horses to ride out of town Sunday afternoons," said Mr. Van Alstine.
Gerty coloured and cast a glance at her husband which spoke volumes, but she did not say a word.