ld have dinner, and Dickey asked,
wonderingly, as they entered, and Paul looked around for his father,

"Are we goin' to eat here, jest as if we was reg'lar folks?"

"Of course we are," said Paul, decidedly; "we're all going to sit
down to the table with father, and have just as good a dinner as we
can get."

Dickey had nothing more to say; he was overwhelmed with the idea of
acting like "reg'lar folks," and after that nothing could have
astonished him.

Mr. Weston had engaged a private dining-room, in order that his guests
might feel more at their ease if they were alone than if they went
into the public dining-room. The boys and Nelly seated themselves at
the table with as much solemnity as if they were participating in some
very important ceremony, opening their eyes wide with astonishment as
the waiter brought on the different courses, but never neglecting to
do full justice to everything that was set before them.

Mr. Weston did all he could to make the dinner seem less formal; but
he did not succeed until after the roast chickens were put on the
table and the servant left the room. Then, when they were alone, and
with three whole chickens before them, their tongues seemed suddenly
to have been loosened, and they talked as fast as the most fun-loving
host could have asked for, until each one's plate was piled high with
chicken and vegetables, when they relapsed again into silent activity.

That visit, and more especially that dinner, was a new experience in
their lives, and one which they could never forget. They ate until it
seemed impossible they could eat any more, and even then Dickey
succeeded in disposing of an extra piece of pie, together with some
nuts and raisins. After the meal was ended, and before they started
out again to take one more look at all that was strange around them,
Mr. Weston said, as he handed Dickey and Mopsey each five dollars, and
Nelly ten,

"I want to return to some of you the money you paid for Paul's
railroad ticket. Nelly has her mother's share as well as her own."

"But we didn't pay so much as this," said Dickey, in evident
perplexity. "It only cost fourteen dollars in all."

"That comes near enough to the amount," replied Mr. Weston, "and you
will oblige me by thinking that you have simply had returned to you
the money you paid out. As for Ben and Johnny, who took charge of Paul
when he was sadly in need of some one's care, I have got what I hope
will be a pleasant su