"Yes'm; that is, I think so!" Mr. Mallow's brow was thoughtful. "It's the largest room, and the handsomest, most think. Me and Billy was lookin' things over this mornin'. He didn't know but the Castle Room would be the most suitable;" (the Mallow House rooms were named from the patterns of their wall-paper) "you know I put a _re_source in there last fall, kind o' balcove like, and he thought set the bed inside that, 'twould have the look of two rooms; but I don't know! Nor I don't know as we've got this matter rightly settled," he added with a laugh, "which way this feller is comin', if he _is_ comin'. It may be all folderido, some fool kid monkeyin' with the telegraph, thinkin' he's all-fired smart. How 'bout that, Very?" Mr. Jordano, on reflection, thought that improbable. The message was not such as a boy would be likely to invent: besides, the distance--he understood California was the source---- At this point Mr. Bygood, who had been dozing in his chair, looked up. "What does Kitty say?" he asked calmly. The others looked at each other. "Dear Father," said Miss Almeria gently; "under all the circumstances, it would be hardly suitable, I fear, to----" Mr. Mallow colored high and cleared his throat nervously. "That's right!" he said. "That's right, Miss Bygood. I--I met Kitty this mornin', on my way down: I forgot to mention it. I didn't _say_ anything, you understand: I only just threw it off, jokin' like. 'Well, Kitty,' I says. 'How's the British this mornin'?' She looks at me, Doctor all over; astonishin' the way she'll call him up sometimes. 'Pretty well, Mr. Mallow,' she says. 'As well as can be expected after Bunker Hill,' she says. We shan't get anything out of Kitty." It was finally decided, Miss Almeria voicing the general opinion, that the less said about the momentous telegram the better. The dignity of Cyrus would be compromised by taking any notice of tidings received in a manner "equally irregular and reprehensible." Miss Almeria bent her handsome head at its severest angle. "I am confident, dear friends," she concluded, "that silence is the only--shall I say attitude?--worthy of Cyrus in this emergency." "Oh, quite so! quite so!" murmured Mr. Jordano with forlorn nobility. "You point us the skyward way, Miss Almeria, as ever!" "That's right!" said Mr. Mallow. "Silence and Cyrus: both begin with C. Guess we can get along, even if he don't come at all, what say? Shall we toddle, Very? Good mornin', Mr. Bygood! mornin', Miss Bygood, and thank you kindly!"