The experience helped him in many ways, so much that when Adelaide saw
him only a few hours later she exclaimed, "Why, how well you are
looking! Our climate must be fine to make such a change in you." And Mr.
Sanders--"Well, well! ef you stay here long, you'll turn out to be a
purty nice lookin' chap. The home air is mighty good for folks, so I've
been told." And, somehow or other, without further explanation, the
young fellow knew what Mr. Sanders had meant by his talk about the
"royal straight flush." When he called on old Jonas, he went as the
grandson of Judge Bowden, and not as the agent of the promoter of the
new railway, and endeavoured to learn everything that the old man knew
about his grandfather.
Mr. Sanders joined the two before they had been conversing very long,
and he was surprised, as well as pleased, to find how completely old
Jonas had thawed out. There was not a frown on his face, and, on
occasion, he laughed heartily over some incident that his memory drew
from the past. And, presently, Adelaide glided in from the innermost
recesses of the house, and sat near her uncle. She was a charming
addition, and a most interesting one, for she was able to remind old
Jonas of many things he had told her about the dead judge. Mr. Sanders,
not to be outdone, contributed some of his own reminiscences, so that
the evening became a sort of memorial of a good man who had long passed
away.
When the visitors were going away, Adelaide accompanied them to the
door, and went with them on the veranda. Before Mr. Sanders could say
good-bye, she caught him by his sleeve--"Do you remember what I told you
the other day? Well, she has returned."
"What did she say?" he inquired, his finger on his chin. Adelaide
blushed, but no one could see her embarrassment. "Why, she says that
everything looks a great deal better by lamplight."
Young Somers heard the conversation, but kept on moving away. "Did you
hear that?" inquired Mr. Sanders, as he overtook the other. "She was
talking about Cally-Lou. It seems she run away the day you showed your
face here, and now she's come back." And further than that, the Sage of
Shady Dale said not a word. But the next day, he met the young fellow on
the street, and gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. "You showed
up purty strong, sonny; an' now that you've diskiver'd for yourself that
thar's a whole lot of ingineerin' that's nuther civil nor mechanical,
an' that aint got a thing in the world to do wi' figgers, you'll manage
to git along ruther better than you thought--in fact, mighty nigh
fustrate.
"But don't fergit Cally-Lou!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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