"Joel," said Polly again.
"Perhaps that is the very reason it would be well for you to do it," said Mrs. Sterling, with a smile. "At any rate, it would please Lawrence, I think. Well, then there are conundrums; you can surely think up something of that sort that will amuse him, and puzzles."
Now, strange to say, Jack had a good head for these things, and without thinking where he was, he blurted out:
"I know a lot of 'em."
Joel whirled around on the carpet and stared at him, as did Polly from her cricket. But Mrs. Sterling only smiled.
"That's good," she said in approval, "now you see you can help us out a good deal"—nodding at him.
But Jack, with a wild glance at the door, as he came to himself, was beyond conundrums, as he thought of what he'd done.
"Tell some of 'em, Jack," cried Joel eagerly, emerging from his surprise.
"What are they, Jack? Tell some."
"Not now," said Mrs. Sterling, interposing. "Jack is going to write them out, and they will be sent in as his contribution to Lawrence."
Sent in to Larry Keep's big house, almost as grand as the one Jack sat in now, by him, a little six-penny grocer's son, doing business over at the South End! He couldn't believe his ears, and to assist them, he lifted his eyes and stared at the person making the announcement. Evidently she meant it, and the more he gazed at her face, the better he liked it. But he didn't dare to stare long, so he concluded to transfer his attention from it to the carpet.