CHAPTER XVIII.
LAST DAY OF THE VISIT.
CLINTON remained in Boston about six weeks, or until the middle of October. During that time he made himself pretty well acquainted with the city, and visited all the objects of interest in and around it. At length the last day of his sight-seeing was over, his valise was packed, and he sat down with his uncle’s family for the last time. It was a cool evening, and a fire in the grate sent out a cheerful warmth. His uncle sat near the table, reading the evening newspaper. His aunt was busy with her needle. Whistler was conning his next morning’s lesson, and Ettie was showing to kitty the pictures in one of her books, while Bouncer was asleep upon the mat. Clinton alone sat idle; but he was not wholly unoccupied. His thoughts were busy, and a feeling of sadness was stealing over him as the hour of his departure drew near.
After a while Mr. Davenport laid his paper aside, and Whistler took it up. He glanced over one of its columns with some care, and then said:
“No news from the Susan yet; you will have to go home without Jerry, Clinton.”
The Susan was the brig in which Jerry Preston sailed. She was now expected at Boston; and the boys had looked daily in the newspapers for the intelligence of her arrival. Clinton had some hope that Jerry would get back in season to return with him to Brookdale; but in this he was disappointed.
“Well, Whistler, what have you learned to-day?” inquired Mr. Davenport,—a question which he frequently addressed to his son, in the evening.
“Let me see,” replied Whistler, slowly. “O, I’ve learned which are the three hardest words to pronounce in the English language.”
“Ah! what are they?” inquired his father.
“They are, ‘I was mistaken,’” replied Whistler.