This was all very interesting, and Squib highly enjoyed the encounter. He did not know which to admire most—the gratitude and dignity of the fine Swiss mountaineer, who now knew to whom he was indebted for this piece of good fortune; or the pleasant, kindly manner of his father in first accepting, then quietly putting aside the thanks, going into all the calculations and measurements, dropping a hint here and making a suggestion there, always to the point, and always eagerly listened to by those standing by.
“I am so glad we went,” cried Squib, as they got into the carriage at last, followed by something very like a cheer from the peasants. “What a nice place it will be when it is done! Father, do you think you will ever bring me here again?”
Colonel Rutland looked down at his small son, and seeing the eagerness in the boy’s eyes, answered after a little thought—
“Well, Squib, suppose we make a compact. You are going to school, and for the next few years you will be busy and full of other interests—interests which you cannot understand yet, but which will absorb you immensely by-and-by. In the holidays you will want to be at home with your brothers and sisters, and they will want you. But our compact shall be this, Squib, that if you are an industrious boy at school, if you do well there—do your best, I mean—and give satisfaction to your masters, then when the time comes for you to leave—the time when there is a break in a boy’s life, and often rather an unwelcome one—then I will take you or send you to Switzerland once more for a couple of months; and you shall do some mountaineering with Ernsthausen, provided you are strong enough, and he is here to take care of you.”
Squib’s eyes had been growing brighter and brighter during the course of this speech. Now, after turning the delightful proposition over and over in his mind for several minutes, he said,—
“Oh, father, you _are_ kind to me! I will be good and diligent. I meant to before, but I shall never forget now. I told Seppi I didn’t know if I should ever come again, not till I was quite grown up and could do as I liked. But now I shall always have this to look forward to! Oh, I am so much obliged to you!”
Colonel Rutland patted his son’s head as he replied,—