Would like to have you meet him
because he's my present chum; that is, he would be if--if we lived in
the same house and could be. But unfortunately, he has agreed to do
'chores' for a parson in payment for his instruction in Greek and all
the 'ologies.' He's off on a tramp now, 'hoofing it,' as he elegantly
expresses it, for a vacation. He's taken the parson and a couple of dogs
along for company. The parson's a trotting tramper, too. Maybe you've
read some of his delightful articles in the magazines. Eh? What? Too
much for you, Mamma? Well, never mind. I'll quit now, for there goes the
last bell for dinner. Allow me?"

Bowing and offering his arm Monty conducted his richly clad mother
toward the dining-room, whither a crowd of tourists were hastening.
These were garbed in any sort of comfortable traveling clothes, the
women mostly in white shirt-waists such as Mrs. Stark would have
disdained even for morning wear at home. The men looked as if they had
just come from a dusty train, a too-fragrant fishing boat, or a rough
camp in the woods; and at the foot of the stairs the fashionable Mrs.
Stark paused in a sort of dismay.

For an instant, too, she had an odd feeling as if it were she who had
made a mistake, not those groups of merry, hungry holiday-makers, who
elbowed one another good naturedly, in order to find a seat at the
crowded tables. Mrs. Stark wasn't used to elbowing or being elbowed, and
she gathered her silken train in her hand to preserve it from contact
with the oil-cloth covered floor of the lobby, while her face gathered
an expression of real alarm.

"Why, my dear son! We can't stay here, you know! It is simply impossible
to hobnob with such--such queer persons. We must seek another hotel at
once. I'll step into that room yonder which is the 'parlor' probably,
and you summon the proprietor. I--I am not accustomed to this want of
courtesy and--indeed, dear, I am greatly displeased with you. You
painted the trip in such glowing colors I--"

"But, Mamma, don't the colors glow? Did you ever see anything in your
life lovelier than this glimpse of the Annapolis Basin, with the
moonlight on it, the great peaks and cliffs beyond? I'm sorry if you're
disappointed but you didn't seem to be up in your room, looking out. As
for changing hotels we'd simply 'hop out of the frying pan into the
fire,' since this is the best one in the town. Else Judge Breckenridge
wouldn't have come here."

"Monty, dear! Such ph