, Cleena. Real, regular adventures. See my leaves?
See this lad! He got them for me. He is Bonaparte Jimpson."

"An' a curious spalpeen that same," casting a suspicious glance over the
youth's strange attire.

"I'm Bonaparte Lafayette Jimpson," he explained gravely and, to Amy's
surprise, timidly.

"The mischief, you be! An' what's Napoleon Bonyparty's gineral's
pleasure at Fairacres, the night?"

"Cleena, wait. I'll tell you. Yes, you will have time enough. The train
isn't due till after six, and they'll be a half-hour longer getting home
from the station. Sit you down, Goodsoul, just for one little bit of
minute. The scrubbing must surely be done by now. Isn't it?"

"Humph! The scrubbin's never done in this dirty world. Well, an' what is
it? Be quick with you!"

Amy coaxed the old servant down upon the doorstep of the freshly
cleaned kitchen, whither they had now gone, and speedily narrated her
afternoon's experiences.

"So you see, dear old Scrubbub, that he must have a fine feast of the
best there is in the house. Besides," and she pulled the other's ear
down to her lips, "I'd just like to have father see him. He isn't
pretty, of course, but he's _new_. I wonder, could he pose?"

"Pose, is it?" groaned Cleena, with a comical grimace. "Pose! Sure, it's
I minds the time when the master caught me diggin' petaties an' kept me
standin', with me foot on me spade, an' me spade in the ground, an' me
body this shape," bending forward, "till I got such a crick in me back I
couldn't walk upright, for better 'n a week. Posin', indeed! Well, he
might. He looks fit for naught else."

"Pooh, Cleena! you know it's an honor. But, come now, I want to put all
these leaves up in the dining room. Will you help me?"

"Will I what--such truck! No, me colleen, not a help helps Cleena the
day."

"Oh, yes, you will. I'll bring the step ladder and hand them to you,
while you put them over the doors and windows. We'll make the place a
perfect bower of cheerfulness, and if our dears, when they come--Oh,
Cleena! they may need the cheerfulness very much."

However, it was not Amy's habit to borrow trouble, and she ran lightly
away, calling to the boy on the porch:--

"I'm going to put Pepita in the stable. If you'd like to see her
brother, you can come with me."

"Sho! Ain't he black!" exclaimed "Bony," as they led Pepita into the
great stables and he discovered Balaam.

Amid ample accommodations for a dozen horses, the two bur