"Oh, it's all arranged, nicely. Miss Foster and I only came over to see what we could do about getting his clothes ready. He must have things warm and nice, for the winters are cold up there."
"I hasn't said he might go,--Dick, put down dem eels,--an' he hasn't said he'd go,--Dick, take off your hat,--an' his father--"
"Now, Glorianna," interrupted Mrs. Kinzer, calling Dick's mother by her first name, "I've known you these forty years, and do you s'pose I'm going to argue about it? Just tell us what Dick'll need, and don't let's have any nonsense. The money's all provided. How do you know what'll become of him? He may be governor yet--"
That idea had suddenly dawned upon the perplexed mind of Mrs. Lee, and Dick's fate was settled. She was prouder than ever of her boy, and, truth to tell, her opposition was only what Mrs. Kinzer had considered it, a piece of unaccountable "nonsense," to be brushed away by such a hand as the widow's.
That was a great day for the boys, but, before the close of it, Ford Foster had told his friends the news that Joe Hart and his brother Fuz had been invited to visit with him.
"Certainly. That kind of boy always comes. Nobody wants to keep him from coming."
"Right away. Vacation's most gone, you know."
"Wont they be ashamed to meet your sister!"
"Not a bit. They'll try their tricks even after they get here."
"All right. We'll help 'em all we know how. But, boys, I tell you what we must try for."
"One grand, good sailing party, in the 'Swallow,' before they get here."
"Hurrah for that! Annie was wishing for one only yesterday."
"We'll have all of your folks and all of ours. The 'Swallow' 's plenty big enough."
"Mother wouldn't go and father can't, just now. He's trying a case. But there's Annie and Frank and me--"
"And my mother and Ham and Miranda and our girls. Ham'll go, sure. Then we must take Dick Lee along. It'd make him sick if we didn't."
"Of course. And aint I glad about him? Could we get ready and go to-morrow?"
"Guess not so quick as that. We might by the day after, if the weather's all right."
Exactly. There is always a large sized "if" to be put in where anything depends on the weather. Mrs. Kinzer took the matter up with enthusiasm, and so did the girls, Miranda included, and Ford Foster was right about his own part of the company.