“And I,” said Ready, “I have been very kind to him, also. He will tell you how I have entertained him as a sophomore should entertain a freshman. Oh, I have labored with him many a night.”
“Thank you, too,” she said, “for helping him nights with his studies. I am sure I appreciate it, Mr. Ready.”
“With his studies!” gasped Jack, taking care she did not hear. “Oh, my! Wouldn’t that kill you! Think of a sophomore helping a freshman with his studies! I’ve helped him do a jolly turn at Billie’s; I’ve marched him about the campus in his pajamas, and I’ve trained him through the streets with his left trousers leg rolled to the knee and a broom on his shoulder for a gun; but helped him with his studies—oh, Laura!”
“But these are not all, mother,” laughed Dick. “There are more coming. To-morrow two young ladies and two gentlemen will arrive. One of the gentlemen is the father of one of the young ladies, while the other gentleman is the husband of the other young lady. The old house will be filled, and we won’t do a thing!”
“I think we’ll be able to find room for everybody,” she said. “The holidays are to be very happy for me, I’m sure.”
“I hope she’s provided plenty of fodder for the herd,” whispered Ready to Browning. “I’m hollow as—as your head.”
“Now, don’t try to get funny at my expense,” warned the big senior. “I’m hungry myself, and I don’t feel like being made a fool of.”
“It would be hard to improve on what nature did for you in that respect,” murmured the irrepressible sophomore.
The boys were shown up to large, pleasant rooms, which had been prepared for them. Frank and Bruce were given a room together, but there were two old-fashioned beds in it, and it opened into another and smaller room that was designated for Ready.
“Thank goodness!” said Jack, when he found he was to have a room by himself. “I’ll not have to sleep in the same apartment with Browning. If I did, by the gods of Olympus! I’d get a clothes-pin and place it straddle of his nose to keep him from snoring. His snore is one of the most frightful things I ever encountered. Yea, verily! I know, for I’ve listened to it in the stilly hours of many an awful night, and it has filled me with despair and an intense desire to do murder.”