We packed up my books and papers and went down the path to the house, but it wasn't the same house any more.
It was bigger, and all around it ran a wide piazza, and on it were big wicker chairs, and Aunty May put me in one of them, and asked me how I liked it. And I said it was lovely, and it was. Inside there were more rooms than before and a bathroom with a big shiny tub and running water, and while it was a country house still, it was much more like a city house.
Aunty May said, "Do you think Aunty Edith will like it?" and I said yes; then she said, "Do you think a sick soldier would like to get well on this piazza?" and I said I knew he would. It was the finest ever.
We took hands and went around and looked at everything, and then we set the table together. Aunty May wouldn't let Mrs. Katy Smith, who had come to help, do a thing to the table. We set it for four people. So I said, "Is company coming to dinner?" Aunty May hugged me and said, "Yes, Billy, but it's a surprise. Don't ask." But I kept guessing,—Charlotte and Grace Turner, and Mr. and Mrs. Turner, and everybody I knew in East Penniwell, and Aunty May said, "You're cold. You're cold."
Just then a carriage stopped at our door, and Aunty Edith got out, and then a thin pale man got out, and he carried a cane and leaned on Aunty Edith, and he came into the room: And IT WAS UNCLE BURT!
I gave such a yell that Aunty Edith looked frightened and Aunty May threw her arms about me and said, "Oh, Billy dear, don't get excited. It's bad for—" But Uncle Burt said, "No, it isn't. It's good for me." And he went to hug me, but Aunty May hadn't got her arms untwisted from me yet, so that he hugged both of us. He didn't seem to notice it at all until I pointed out to him that it was me he wanted and that he was kissing Aunty May, and he said, "Dear me, you don't say so"—and kissed her again. Then he kissed me.
He sat down, and Aunty May and me went and stood by him. That is, I stood by him and leaned on his well knee, and Aunty May kneeled down and put her head on his hurt knee, and he didn't seem to mind it at all. He put his hand on her head and smiled over to Aunty Edith, and she came and said, "Come, Billy, show me the house."
I said, "Yes, Aunty Edith, but first I want to give Aunty May back to Uncle Burt. She's all right, the germs didn't hurt her, though she got quite thin taking care of me."
"Did she, poor girl," said Uncle Burt.