“Then, run away,” said Mrs. Hardy; “it is good for boys to be in the open air as much as possible, and I am used to washing my dishes myself. That china belonged to my mother, and was very expensive, and you might let it fall; and then, perhaps you would spot your velvet suit.”
Eugene went out-of-doors; and while walking about the moist garden paths, he followed the sergeant’s directions with regard to picking a number of the sweet tremulous flowers to take home with him.
“What games can you play?” asked the sergeant as his eye ran over the pleasing symmetry of Eugene’s figure.
“I can fence and dance,” said Eugene, “and ride passably; also I am fond of fishing, and I can run well at the game one calls ‘prisoner’s base’ in this country.”
“Good; but what have you done here? Do you play base-ball and cricket or foot-ball?”
“Not as yet,” said the boy sadly, but proudly; “we can afford nothing.”
“We must see to that if you stay in Boston,” said the sergeant. “You’ll not make yourself a man if you don’t have manly exercise. Why, here’s Dodo coming home, and old Toddles with her.”
Eugene lifted up his eyes and smiled in amusement at two rather decrepit cats that were climbing the garden fence.