"d.i.c.k," said our hero, who somehow could not help feeling, when called Richard, that some other boy was meant.
"Won"t you come and help me build a house?" asked little Johnny.
d.i.c.k accepted the invitation with pleasure, feeling more at home with children than with older persons.
"This is sister Grace," said Johnny, with an offhand introduction.
"I saw you on the boat," said d.i.c.k.
"Yes," said Grace, "I was there. Oh, how frightened I was when Johnny fell into the water! I don"t see how you dared to jump in after him."
"Oh, I"ve been in swimming many a time. I don"t mind it," said d.i.c.k.
"I s"pose you"re used to it, like the fishes," said Johnny. "I"m glad I"m not a fish. I shouldn"t like to live in the water."
"I don"t think I should, either," said d.i.c.k. "Now, what do you think the fishes do when it rains?"
"I do not know."
"They go down to the bottom of the sea to get out of the wet."
"Isn"t it wet down at the bottom of the sea?" asked Johnny, in good faith.
"Of course it is, you little goose," said Grace, with an air of superior wisdom.
"Will you make me a house?" said Johnny.
"What kind of a house do you want?" said d.i.c.k, seating himself on the carpet, and taking up the blocks.
"Any kind," said Johnny.
d.i.c.k, beginning to feel quite at home with the children, erected an imposing-looking house, leaving little s.p.a.ces for the doors and windows.
"That"s better than the house Grace made," said Johnny, looking at it with complacency.
"But it won"t last very long," said d.i.c.k. "You"d better sell it before it tumbles over."
"Do you own any houses?" asked Johnny.
"Not many," said d.i.c.k, smiling.
"My father owns this house," said Johnny, positively. "He paid fifty dollars for it."
"I didn"t think houses were so cheap," said d.i.c.k. "I"d like to buy one at that price."
"You"re a little goose, Johnny," said Grace. "He gave as much as five hundred dollars."
"Grace doesn"t know much more about the price of real estate than Johnny," said Mr. Rockwell.
"Didn"t the house cost as much as five hundred dollars?" asked Grace.
"As much as that certainly, my dear."
Just then, by an unguarded movement of Johnny"s foot, the edifice of blocks reared by d.i.c.k became a confused ruin.
"I"ve got tired of building houses," he announced, "Won"t you tell me a story, d.i.c.k?"
"I don"t think I know any," said our hero.
"Here is a book of pictures," said his mother, bringing one from the table. "Perhaps your new friend will show them to you."
d.i.c.k took the book, and felt very glad that he had learned to read.
Otherwise he might have been considerably embarra.s.sed.
The children asked a great many questions of d.i.c.k about the pictures, some of which he could not answer. Johnny, on being shown the picture of a Turkish mosque, asked if that was the place where the turkeys went to church.
"If there was any place for a goose to go to church, you"d go there,"
said his sister.
"I aint a goose any more than you are," said Johnny, indignantly; "am I, d.i.c.k?"
Just then the servant came in to carry the children to bed, and, considerably against their wishes, they were obliged to withdraw.
"Come again, d.i.c.k," said Johnny.
"Thank you," said d.i.c.k. "Good-night."
"Good-night," said the two children, and the door closed upon them.
"I think I"ll be going," said d.i.c.k, who did not feel quite so much at ease, now that his young friends had left him.
"Wait a few minutes," said Mrs. Rockwell.
She rang the bell, and a servant brought up some cake and apples, of which d.i.c.k was invited to partake.
I need not detail the conversation; but Mrs. Rockwell, with the tact of a genuine lady, managed to draw out d.i.c.k, and put him quite at his ease.
"How old are you, Richard?" she asked.
"Fifteen," said d.i.c.k; "goin" on sixteen."
"You are getting to be quite a young man,--old enough to wear a watch.
Have you one?"
"No," said d.i.c.k, not suspecting the motive that led to her question.
"Will you allow me the pleasure of supplying the deficiency?" said Mrs.
Rockwell.