that he said he was goin' to stop a day or so in
Atlanta, an' wouldn't I oblige him by sendin' my answer thar? You bet I
did. I'll do a friend a favor whenever I kin. I told 'im Alf Junior was
a buster, had a yell on 'im that would do for a fire-alarm, an' was
already keen enough to know the difference betwixt a bottle with a
rubber neck an' the rail thing. So thar it rests. He hain't got no use
for babies, an' he'll be as mad as Tucker, but when he finds out it's
jest a joke he'll be happy enough to set up the drinks."

"Gracious, surely you didn't go as far as that," Mrs. Allen cried,
casting a jealous look at her sleeping infant and sweeping it on to her
grinning spouse.

"Didn't I, though!" Wrinkle spat, gleefully. "Alf has often said I
couldn't fool _him_, an' we'll see--we'll see this pop."

"It certainly is a corker," Allen declared--"that is, if he swallows
it."

"He's already done it," sniggered the stepfather-in-law. "I writ a
document a Philadelphia lawyer and a Pinkerton detective combined
couldn't pick a flaw in. I hedged it in with roundabout reasons an'
facts, tellin' 'im he'd 'a' had letter after letter about how the baby
was thrivin' if he'd just answered Hettie's first official proclamation,
and so on, and so on. Folks, I can hardly wait. He'll git here to-morrow
night, an' we'll have the fun of our lives. I hope you two won't say a
word--at fust, anyway. Leave it all to me."

CHAPTER XI

The following afternoon about dusk the mail-hack, which usually brought
a few passengers over from Carlton, put Henley down at the gate. The
Allens, the Wrinkles, and Mrs. Henley were seated on the porch, and all
stared expectantly except the wife of the returning man, who rose
suddenly and retired into the house. Henley was tanned, wore a more
stylish suit of clothes than had been his wont, and a broad-brimmed hat.
As he advanced up the walk, swinging his bag in one hand and a bulky
parcel in the other, the observers noted that he was flushed and smiling
complacently.

"Durn it all!--dad blast his pictur'!" Wrinkle ejaculated, "I'll bet he
missed my letter. He wouldn't look tickled that way if he'd got it.
Well, the fun is off. If I was to tell 'im now he'd know I was lyin'."

The new-comer was at the bottom of the steps now, and, depositing his
things on the grass, he came up with his hand extended.

"Well, here I am," he cried, as he clasped Wrinkle's hand and shook it
cordially. "I never was as