"Like you," he roared, leaning forward and giving her a resounding and loving smack on her ruddy cheek.
Surprised by her sheepish expression, he looked round and found Justin regarding him with a dubious expression from the doorway.
The young man did not like to see his mother holding Captain White's feet, and furthermore, to see her taking such evident pleasure in the honour.
"I've got rheumatism most gripingly," explained Captain White, lifting the offending members to the floor, and twisting his face in pretended torture. "By the way, you're to take your boat and meet young missis down at Gull's Island, where the carnival suppers. She wants to come home with you, and left that message. Whew! there's a strange cat in the garden," and forgetting his rheumatism, he darted from the room, and went to whistle the intruder over the fence.
CHAPTER XXIV.
AN INVITATION TO A PICNIC.
During the fine summer weather Miss Gastonguay spent a great part of her time on horseback.
Her straight figure was becoming bent, her short grizzled hair was more thickly mixed with white, her hand was less steady than it used to be, yet she persisted in her long rides, and for miles around Rossignol the farmers' wives would run to the window as they saw her pass, and exclaim, "There goes the rich old lady from the Bay, with her niece and her pony dog."
The latter was the name by which the Fairy Prince was known, and he did indeed look like a lazy dog as he trotted far in the rear of the tall black steeds on which his mistress and her niece were mounted.