"Now, Thad," I said, as I turned away from the window, "be sure and make a low bow when you are introduced, because—" But the Landlady's knock was on the door, and in she came, followed in close order by Malcolm Heppingham, the son of a Duke, Douglas Galton, whose father was an Earl, and Ralph Maisley, who was an "Honorable."
I was presented to these high and mighty individuals with great ceremony, and then the landlady went out and left us to ourselves.
For a moment there was dead silence, while Thad stood staring at our visitors as if afraid to sit down in their presence. The three English chaps stared at us too, and then all at once began to ask questions about America.
And such questions! Why, they made me think of it as some island away off in the Arctic Ocean, which people never heard from except every two or three years, when a ship managed to break its way through the ice, and carried back the news that a new barn had been built or half the inhabitants killed off by the natives.
Nevertheless, I was deeply impressed by the grand airs the young noblemen gave themselves, and the queer way they had of pronouncing their words.
Their call was a very formal one, for they only staid about ten minutes, and then filed out in solemn procession, after making me promise to come and see them the very next afternoon. Nothing was said about Thad, so I concluded they thought him too young for company.
Well, of course I felt very much honored by the pressing invitation to visit them so soon, and promptly at the hour named presented myself at their boarding-house, where I was immediately pounced upon by all three of my titled friends, who in a very lively manner, and all talking at once, informed me that I had arrived just in the nick of time to see the "jolliest sight"—no less than the ascent of the dining-room chimney by a boy sweep.
Then they took me into the long dining-hall, with its great fire-place, which, though big enough to hold two boys, was anything but a pleasant spot to poke one's head into.
The sweep quickly and quietly made his preparations, and with our four pair of eyes riveted upon his sooty form, speedily clambered out of sight.
"I say," cried Duke Malcolm, when there was nothing more to be seen, "while he's up there, come on out and take a look at my dog-kennel."