The front door of Dr. Brandegee"s library had hardly closed behind that earliest flock of his autumn birds, before the door by which he had entered swung open, and a fine-looking, middle-aged matron stood in it, remarking,--
"My dear, there are more than a dozen waiting in the parlor. Have you not spent a great deal of time on those four?"
"They"re worth it, Mary. There"s enough in every one of them to make a man of, and they"ve all started fairly well."
"I fear that is more than you will be able to say of all these others."
"Of course it will. Their fathers and mothers have had a great deal to do with that."
They were all "examined," however, in due season, some in one way and some in another; and during all that time Dab Kinzer and his friends were inwardly wondering, whether they said so or not, precisely what impression they had made upon the doctor.
It was just as well, every way, that they did not know.
It was a curious fact, that with one accord they accompanied d.i.c.k on his return to their boarding-house; and, while he disappeared through the door at the end of the hall with Miss Almira, some invisible leading-string dragged them up stairs. Not that they really had any studying to do; but it was dinner-time before they had finished turning over the leaves of their text-books, and estimating the amount of hard work it would cost to prepare for an "examination" on them.
There was no good reason for complaint of that dinner any more than of their breakfast; and it wound up with a very excellent Indian-meal pudding, concerning which Dabney went so far as to say he would like to send the recipe home to his mother.
"I"m so glad you like it," said Mrs. Myers. "Almira, just remember that.
They can have it as often as they please."
She asked them, too, how they proposed to spend their afternoon, and smilingly explained, as to d.i.c.k Lee, that,--
"Sat.u.r.day is one of my busy days, and he will have to stay at home and help. Errands to run, and I want him to learn how. He"s a bright, active little fellow."
That was all "according to contract;" but d.i.c.k did not come in for his dinner until the rest had eaten theirs; and then he barely had time to say to Dab Kinzer,--
"Did you ebber sh.e.l.l corn?"
"Course I have. Why?"
""Cause dar"s a bigger heap ob corn out in de barn dan you ebber see."
"Bigger"n Ham"s?"
"Well, no, not so big as his"n, mebbe; but dar"s more ob it. I"s got it to sh.e.l.l."
Dab went off with the other two, vaguely beginning to ask himself if sh.e.l.ling corn came fairly into the proper meaning of the word "ch.o.r.es."
All that sort of thing was quickly forgotten, however; for there were a dozen groups of boys scattered here and there over the broad expanse of the "green," and Ford Foster at once exclaimed,--
"Boys, let"s examine that crowd. It"ll take all the afternoon to find what they know."
Getting acquainted is apt to be a slow process in cases of that sort, unless it is taken hold of with vigor; and Ford was the very fellow to hurry it up. Before the afternoon was over, every boy on that green knew who he was, and where he came from; and a good share of them had tried their hands at "chaffing" him and his friends. Of these latter it may safely be said that not a single one could afterwards remember that he had seemed to himself to get the best of it.
"First day" at school is pretty safe to be a peace-day also; and none of the wordy collisions went too far, although it was plain that the new-comers had not yet attained any high degree of popularity.
After supper d.i.c.k Lee set off for Dr. Brandegee"s, and his friends attended him nearly to the gate.
They would have been glad to have had a report of his visit from him, on his return; but he had his "ch.o.r.es" to do then, and any amount of careful instruction concerning them to receive from Mrs. Myers and Almira.
The other three were more thoroughly tired out than they had at all expected, and were all quite ready to agree with Frank Harley,--
"We"d better get to bed, boys. I want to see if this is a good house to sleep in."
"Sleep?" said Ford. "I could go to sleep in an omnibus."
Early to bed meant early to rise, necessarily; and they were all up and dressed the next morning, when d.i.c.k Lee slipped in on them. Before they had time to ask him a question, he exclaimed,--
"I say, Cap"n Dab, is you goin" to church dis mornin"?"
"Of course. We"re all going."
"So I heerd Mrs. Myers tell Miss Almiry. She"s goin" to take you along wid her when she goes."
"Richard," said Ford, "are you going?"
"Habn"t heerd a word about dat."
"Don"t you go back on your friends, Richard. Be all ready in time, sure"s you live, and go with us, or I"ll complain to Dr. Brandegee."
d.i.c.k"s grin was a wide one; but he responded,--
"I"ll be ready. See "f I ain"t."
The voice of Almira, calling his name at the foot of the stairs, prevented any further conversation just then; and d.i.c.k found, afterwards, that he had undertaken a task of some difficulty. He hardly knew when or where he squeezed out the time for the proper polishing of his shoes, or the due arrangement of his magnificent red necktie; but both feats were accomplished most faithfully.
The subject of church-going came up again, incidentally, at the breakfast-table; and the remarks of her young boarders met the emphatic approval of Mrs. Myers and her daughter. Perhaps because neither of them had been near enough, after d.i.c.k dodged out of their room at the end of his early call, to hear Dabney Kinzer remark,--
"Ford, don"t you think we can find our way across the green without any help from the ladies?"
"I am pondering that matter. What do you say, Frank?"
"We must get out of it if we can politely. I don"t just see how we"ll do it."
"Do it? Why, we"ll all wait for d.i.c.k Lee."
Mrs. Myers took a little too much for granted; and when the hour came for starting, there came a slight disturbance in the smooth current of her calculations.
"Mr. Foster," she called out, in her best voice, from half way up the stairs, "the first bell is ringing. Are you and your friends ready?"
"Ringing?" responded Ford. "So it is! I regret to say we are not yet ready to go."
At the same moment Dab was whispering,--
"We mustn"t start until it"s nearly done tolling."
"What"s that?" asked Frank.