"You're certainly not considerin' goin' back to Boston today!" chimed in Celestina.
"I was," laughed Bob.
"You may as well put that notion right out of your head," said Willie, "for we shan't let you carry out no such crazy scheme."
"But to come launching down on you this way—" began the younger man.
"You ain't come launchin' down," objected his aunt with spirit. "We ain't got nothin' to do but inventin', an' I reckon that can wait."
Glancing playfully at Willie she saw a sudden light of eagerness flash into his countenance. But Bob, not understanding the allusion, looked from one of them to the other in puzzled silence.
"All right, Aunt Tiny," he at last announced, "if you an' Mr. Spence really want me to, I should be delighted to stay with you a few days. The fact is," he added with boyish frankness, "my suit case is down behind the rose bushes this minute. Having sent most of my luggage home, and not knowing what I should do, I brought it along with me."
"You go straight out, young man, an' fetch it in," commanded Willie, giving him a jocose slap on the back.
Nevertheless, in spite of the mandate, Robert Morton lingered.
"Do you know, Aunt Tiny, I'm almost ashamed to accept your hospitality," he observed with winning sincerity. "We've all been so rotten to you—never coming to see you or anything. Dad's terribly cut up that he hasn't made a single trip East since leaving Wilton."