visit of his idolized great man had indeed been good for him, putting
new spirit into him; and liveliness of the body followed that of the
spirit. His improvement carried over the night: he slept well and
awoke late, declaring that he was "pretty near a well man and ready for
business right now." Moreover, having slept again in the afternoon,
he dressed and went down to dinner, leaning but lightly on Alice, who
conducted him.

"My! but you and your mother have been at it with your scrubbing and
dusting!" he said, as they came through the "living-room." "I don't know
I ever did see the house so spick and span before!" His glance fell upon
a few carnations in a vase, and he chuckled admiringly. "Flowers, too!
So THAT'S what you coaxed that dollar and a half out o 'me for, this
morning!"

Other embellishments brought forth his comment when he had taken his old
seat at the head of the small dinner-table. "Why, I declare, Alice!" he
exclaimed. "I been so busy looking at all the spick-and-spanishness
after the house-cleaning, and the flowers out in the parlour--'living
room' I suppose you want me to call it, if I just GOT to be
fashionable--I been so busy studying over all this so-and-so, I declare
I never noticed YOU till this minute! My, but you ARE all dressed up!
What's goin' on? What's it about: you so all dressed up, and flowers in
the parlour and everything?"

"Don't you see, papa? It's in honour of your coming downstairs again, of
course."

"Oh, so that's it," he said. "I never would 'a' thought of that, I
guess."

But Walter looked sidelong at his father, and gave forth his sly and
knowing laugh. "Neither would I!" he said.

Adams lifted his eyebrows jocosely. "You're jealous, are you, sonny? You
don't want the old man to think our young lady'd make so much fuss over
him, do you?"

"Go on thinkin' it's over you," Walter retorted, amused. "Go on and
think it. It'll do you good."

"Of course I'll think it," Adams said. "It isn't anybody's birthday.
Certainly the decorations are on account of me coming downstairs. Didn't
you hear Alice say so?"

"Sure, I heard her say so."

"Well, then----"

Walter interrupted him with a little music. Looking shrewdly at Alice,
he sang:

"I was walkin' out on Monday with my sweet thing.
She's my neat thing,
My sweet thing:
I'll go round on Tuesday night to see her.
Oh, how we'll spoon----"

"Walter!" his mother cried. "WHERE do you learn