“Admirable! And the air up here, I have noticed, keeps them in first-rate condition. Cigars are a good deal like people, Oliver—they are unaccountably changeable. Ever notice that?”
“Yes; but a pipe is an unchanging friend. Cigars are like women. That’s a good idea!”
“Bother your ideas! What interesting people! It seemed to me a wholesome atmosphere—strong and true and honest. Master Jack did not appear. I suppose he was in disgrace.”
“Very likely.”
“That boy Ned is a quaint little fellow.”
“We only wanted the sister and that scamp to make up the entire family.”
“I am not so sure about the scamp—the black sheep; I fancy he is hardly more than brown. I was rather hard on him; but I was angry enough to have thrashed him, and yet I couldn’t help liking his pluck.”
“It was rather out of place, Fred.”
“Yes. To know when to fear, and what to fear, is wisdom.”
“I think you have it to-day, Fred. You are afraid of that girl.”