The good lady had surpassed both of her nephews in making a muddle, and before it could be cleared up to her satisfaction, Mr. Ayr was announced.
The hostess rose to greet him, and "all the boys except Miss Glidden," as Patsy Rafferty expressed it, made a rush for him and wound themselves around him like an anaconda.
"Where's Fay?" said Ned, as he looked about him when the anaconda had loosened its folds.
"He's at the Box, managing the signals," said Jack.
The hero of the evening was now beset with inquiries, and nearly the whole story was gone over again, by question and answer.
"I understand it all now," said Ned, "except one thing. Why did you always refuse to look at a newspaper?"
"There were several reasons for that," said Jack. "One was, that the paragraph about my supposed crime was constantly turning up. Another was, that I thought my friends would advertise for me, and was afraid some of them might attempt to decoy me with what they would consider a justifiable fib,—as, that my mother was at the point of death, or something of that sort. If such a thing appeared, I preferred not to see it."
CHAPTER XXII.
OLD SHOES AND ORANGE-BLOSSOMS.