* * * * *

"My!" exclaimed Aunt Polly, when John came into the sitting room after
dinner dressed to go out. "My, don't he look nice? I never see you in
them clo'es. Come here a minute," and she picked a thread off his sleeve
and took the opportunity to turn him round for the purpose of giving him
a thorough inspection.

"That wa'n't what you said when you see me in _my_ gold-plated harniss,"
remarked David, with a grin. "You didn't say nothin' putty to me."

"Humph! I guess the's some diff'rence," observed Mrs. Bixbee with scorn,
and her brother laughed.

"How was you cal'latin' to git there?" he asked, looking at our friend's
evening shoes.

"I thought at first I would walk," was the reply, "but I rather think I
will stop at Robinson's and get him to send me over."

"I guess you won't do nothin' o' the sort," declared David. "Tom's all
hitched to take you over, an' when you're ready jest ring the bell."

"You're awfully kind," said John gratefully, "but I don't know when I
shall be coming home."

"Come back when you git a good ready," said Mr. Harum. "If you keep him
an' the hoss waitin' a spell, I guess they won't take cold this
weather."

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The Verjoos house, of old red brick, stands about a hundred feet back
from the north side of the Lake Road, on the south shore of the lake.
Since its original construction a _porte cochere_ has been built upon
the front. A very broad hall, from which rises the stairway with a
double turn and landing, divides the main body of the house through the
middle. On the left, as one enters, is the great drawing room; on the
right a parlor opening into a library; and beyond, the dining room,
which looks out over the lake. The hall opens in the rear upon a broad,
covered veranda, facing the lake, with a flight of steps to a lawn which
slopes down to the lake shore, a distance of some hundred and fifty
yards.

John had to pass through a little flock of young people who stood near
and about the entrance to the drawing room, and having given his package
of music to the maid in waiting, with a request that it be put upon the
piano, he mounted the stairs to deposit his hat and coat, and then went
down.

In the south end of the drawing room were some twenty people sitting and
standing about, most of them the elders of the families who constituted
society in Homeville, many of whom John had met, and nearly all of whom
he knew