as clean, and she appeared to be a very much more
pleasant acquaintance than the gentleman who swallowed swords.

This ended the introductions; and Toby was just looking around for a
seat, when Mrs. Treat, the fat lady and the giver of the feast which
was about to come, and which already smelled so invitingly, entered from
behind a curtain of canvas, where the cooking stove was supposed to be
located.

She had every appearance of being the cook for the occasion. Her sleeves
were rolled up, her hair tumbled and frowzy, and there were several
unmistakable marks of grease on the front of her calico dress.

She waited for no ceremony, but rushed up to Toby and, taking him in her
arms, gave him such a squeeze that there seemed to be every possibility
that she would break all the bones in his body; and she kept him so long
in this bearlike embrace that Mr. Stubbs reached his little brown paws
over and got such a hold of her hair that all present, save Signor
Castro, rushed forward to release her from the monkey's grasp.

"You dear little thing!" said Mrs. Treat, paying but slight attention
to the hair pulling she had just undergone, and holding Toby at arm's
length so that she could look into his face, "you were so late that I
was afraid you wasn't coming; and my dinner wouldn't have tasted half so
good if you hadn't been here to eat some."

Toby hardly knew what to say for this hearty welcome, and he managed to
tell the large and kind hearted lady that he had had no idea of missing
the dinner, and that he was very glad she wanted him to come.

"Want you to come, you dear little thing!" she exclaimed, as she gave
him another hug, but careful not to give Mr. Stubbs a chance of grasping
her hair again. "Of course I wanted you to come, for this dinner has
been got up so that you could meet these people here, and so that they
could see you."

Toby was entirely at a loss to know what to say to this overwhelming
compliment, and for that reason did not say anything, only submitting
patiently to the third hug, which was all Mrs. Treat had time to give
him, as she was obliged to rush behind the canvas screen again, as there
were unmistakable sounds of something boiling over on the stove.

"You'll excuse me," said the skeleton, with an air of dignity, waving
his hand once more toward the assembled company, "but while introducing
you to Mr. Tyler I had almost forgotten to introduce him to you. This,
ladies and gentlemen"--and he