He hesitated; then he nodded once more. “Good as any, I guess,” he admitted. “I don’t know but I’d just as soon be alone as with a young cub I’m supposed to keep a weather eye on and that, nine chances out of ten, I’ll hate the sight of from the minute I lay eyes on him.... But I’ll write and ask him. I’ll write now, to-day.” She was turning over the sheets of Covell’s letter. Now she uttered an exclamation. “Here is something else,” she exclaimed. “Something we haven’t read. A postscript, written on the back of this last page. It says: ‘I think you will like the boy, when you meet him. He has a knack of making people like him at first sight. When they are the right people it is a valuable knack.’ There, Uncle Foster, you see! You won’t hate him, you will like him. I am ever so glad he is coming.” Just then there was a knock at the door leading from the kitchen. Varunas appeared with a yellow envelope in his hand. “Telegram for you, Cap’n Foster,” he announced. “Seth Canby’s boy just fetched it up. Hope ’tain’t no bad news. Nobody dead or nothin’ like that.” Townsend took the envelope. “What do you mean by ‘nothing like that’?” he observed. “I never saw anything like being dead except _being_ dead, did you, Varunas?” Nabby, who had followed her husband into the room, sniffed. “You never saw _him_ about gettin’ up time of a winter mornin’, then, Cap’n Foster,” she declared. “If he ain’t dead then he’s a turrible good imitation.” Foster Townsend had torn open a yellow envelope. Now he threw the telegram upon the table and rose from his chair. “Bah!” he snorted, disgustedly. “Can’t they let me alone for two days running? I’ve got to go to Ostable this minute. Lawyer business again.... Well, what must be must. The train has gone long ago so I shall have to drive. Want to go with me, Esther?” His niece shook her head. “I can’t, Uncle Foster,” she answered. “I promised Mr. Colton I would attend a meeting of the Welfare Society. Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Snow and ever so many more are to be there. They are thinking of getting up another entertainment of some kind to raise money. Of course I can’t take part because I am going abroad, but I must help as long as I can.” Foster Townsend sniffed. “All right,” he said. “If you promised you’ll have to be there, I suppose. Well, I can’t stand here. Hitch up the team, Varunas.” Then thrusting the packet of unopened mail matter into his pocket, he added, “I’ll read this after I get there. There’ll be plenty of time. I never broke my back chasing over to that law office yet that I didn’t have to wait for somebody else who hadn’t taken the trouble to break his.... Good-by, Esther.” He kissed her and hurried through the library to the hatrack in the hall. She called after him. “You are going to write Mr. Covell and invite his son for that visit, aren’t you, Uncle Foster?” she asked.