and that the Van Wedderburns liked her. And that's all
I did hear, though Bob himself wrote me in May, sayin' him and
Mabel, his wife, had bought a summer cottage in Wapatomac, and me and
Jonadab--especially me--must be sure and come to see it and them. He
never mentioned his second girl, and I almost forgot her myself.

"But one afternoon in early July a big six-cylinder automobile come
sailin' down the road and into the Old Home House yard. A shofer--I
b'lieve that's what they call the tribe--was at the helm of it, and on
the back seat, lollin' luxurious against the upholstery, was a man and
a woman, got up regardless in silk dusters and goggles and veils and
prosperity. I never expect to see the Prince of Wales and his wife, but
I know how they'd look--after seein' them two.

"Jonadab was at the bottom step to welcome 'em, bowin' and scrapin' as
if his middle j'int had just been iled. I wa'n't fur astern, and every
boarder on deck was all eyes and envy.

"The shofer opens the door of the after cockpit of the machine, and the
man gets out fust, treadin' gingerly but grand, as if he was doin' the
ground a condescension by steppin' on it. Then he turns to the woman and
she slides out, her duds rustlin' like the wind in a scrub oak. The pair
sails up the steps, Jonadab and me backin' and fillin' in front of 'em.
All the help that could get to a window to peek had knocked off work to
do it.

"'Ahem!' says the man, pompous as Julius Caesar--he was big and
straight and fine lookin' and had black side whiskers half mast on his
cheeks--ahem!' says he. 'I say, good people, may we have dinner here?'

"Well, they tell us time and tide waits for no man, but prob'ly that
don't include the nobility. Anyhow, although 'twas long past our reg'lar
dinner time, I heard Jonadab tellin' 'em sure and sartin they could. If
they wouldn't mind settin' on the piazza or in the front parlor for a
spell, he'd have somethin' prepared in a jiffy. So up to the piazza they
paraded and come to anchor in a couple of chairs.

"'You can have your automobile put right into the barn,' I says, 'if you
want to.'

"'I don't know as it will be necessary--' began the big feller, but the
woman interrupted him. She was starin' through her thick veil at the
barn door. Sim Butler, in his overalls and ragged shirt sleeves, was
leanin' against that door, interested as the rest of us in what was
goin' on.

"'I would have it put there, I think,' says the woman