"Yes; still it was at Loringwood I first saw him. Do you remember? You folks had just moved here from Mobile; it was my tenth birthday, and I had a party. Kenneth was the beau of the whole affair, because he was a new-comer, and a 'town boy,' and, I remember, we compared ages and found that he was three months older than I, and for a long time he assumed superior airs in consequence," and she smiled at the remembrance. "Well, Uncle Matthew is delighted, and I suppose I should be. It ends all our money troubles for awhile, any way. Now, what are you planning for Kenneth's home coming? All the people will want to see him." "And so they shall. We certainly can depend on him for tomorrow night, and we will have a party. Pluto shall start with the invitations at once." And Pluto did, just as soon as he had brought Zekal around for an inspection, which proved so entirely satisfactory that Evilena threatened to adopt him right away. He should be her own especial boy soon as he was big enough to run errands, which statement appeared to make an impression on Zekal not anticipated, for he so delighted to gaze on the pretty young white lady who petted him, that he objected lustily to being removed from the light of her countenance; and Delaven gave him a coin and informed him that he felt like himself, often. This remark, made in the presence of Madame Caron, who laughed, brought on a tilt at hostilities between himself and Miss Evilena, who declared he was mocking her, and trying to render her ridiculous in the eyes of the only foreigner she admired excessively! He endeavored to persuade her to extend the last by warbling "Sweet Evilena," which she declared she could not endure to hear for three distinct reasons. "Let's hear them," he suggested, continuing the low humming: "Ten years have gone by And I have not one dollar; Evilena still lives In that green grassy hollow." "There! what sort of man would he be, any way?" she demanded, "a man who couldn't earn a dollar in ten years!" "Arrah, now! and there's many a one of us travels longer and finds less, and never gets a song made about him, either; so, that's your first reason, is it?" "And a very good one, too!" affirmed the practical damsel; "do you want to hear the second?" "An' it please your sovereign grace!" "Well, it doesn't, for you can't sing it," and she emphasized the statement by flaunting her garden hat at every word. "Me, is it? Ah, now, listen to that! I can't sing it, can't I? Well, then, I'll practice it all day and every day until you change your mind about that, my lady!" "I shan't; for I've heard it sung so much better--and by a boy _who wore a uniform_--and that's the third reason."