“Then you have a lover, too, of the same name as mine,” observed Kitty.
“I a lover! I have none,” returned Mabel. “Besides, do you not perceive that these names have been here a long time, for the bark has nearly grown over them?”
“Well, who were these lovers, then?—for such no doubt they were,” said Kitty.
“I do not know; I only discovered the names yesterday. I’ll ask grandpa as soon as he comes back from the mill.”
“Do,” said Harry, “for I am curious to know.”
“And before you return to Illinois,” continued Kitty, “please come to the Kearsarge House, in order that I may see you again; for where your home is, is far, far from where ours is going to be.”
“We intend to live in Paris,” said Harry.
“In Paris?” observed Mabel. “You mean, of course, the Paris that is in France?”
“Is there any other?” said Kitty, inwardly smiling at her simplicity.
“Oh! yes. There is a Paris in Oregon and another in Texas.”