dead; excursions
to Windsor and the Crystal Palace; sails down the Thames, and dinners
and teas at Richmond and Kew Gardens, driving home by moonlight! How
the boys did enjoy it all, and what long letters went home to America
addressed to Master Edward Petry!

All this sight-seeing took up many days; three weeks slipped by before
anybody realized it, and Dr. Kingsley was talking of a trip to the
Continent, when a little incident occurred of which I must tell you.

Rex and his American cousins had become the best of friends. He knew
all about their pretty home in Orange, about Ned and the rabbits,
Fritz, the bicycling, and the tennis playing, while they in their turn
took the deepest interest in his country and Eton experiences. They
took "bus" rides together, and played jokes on the pompous footman,
whom Charlie had nicknamed the "S. C." (Superb Creature).

One morning Rex and our two boys went to Justice Barrington's chambers.
There they expected to find Dr. Kingsley, but when they arrived only
Jarvis, the solemn-faced old servitor, met them. He showed them into
the inner room and left them to their own devices, saying that "his
ludship and the reverend doctor" would, no doubt, soon be in.

The room was very dark; three sides were covered with
uninteresting-looking law books, and after gazing out of the window,
which overlooked a quiet little church-yard where the monuments and
headstones were falling into decay, the three boys were at a loss what
to do with themselves. Charlie and Selwyn would have liked a walk
about the neighborhood, but Reginald demurred. "It's a horrid bore
being shut up here," he admitted frankly, "but papa might return while
we were out, and I'm not sure that he would like to find us away. I
wish I could think of some way to amuse you. Oh, I know--we were
talking about barristers' robes the other day; I'll show you papa's
gown and wig. I know where Jarvis keeps them. Wouldn't you like to
see them?"

"Indeed we should," responded the American boys. So, after hunting for
the key, Rex opened what he called a "cupboard" (though Charlie and
Selwyn thought it a closet), where hung a long black silk robe, very
similar in style to those worn by our bishops in America. This he
brought out; next, from a flat wooden box, which looked very old and
black, he drew a large, white, curly wig. The boys looked at these
with eager interest. "These are like what are worn in the Houses of
Parliame