"There was more room for improvement in my case," his son laughed back, throwing his arm around him again. "My, but it's good to see you! Talk about changes! You look ten years younger, doesn't he, Mr. Stevens? How's mother? And--and Thomas, and the girls? And--and Peter?" "Yes, how is _Peter_?" said Mr. Stevens. "Why, Peter's all right," returned Mr. Gray soberly; "what makes you ask? That sort is never sick and he's as good and steady a boy as I ever saw." "I'm so glad to hear it," murmured Mr. Stevens in an interested voice. "And we had the biggest creamery check this month, Austin," went on his father, "that we _ever_ had--with just those few cows you sent! Peter tends them as if they were young girls being dressed up for their sweethearts. The hens are laying well, too, right through this cold weather--the poultry house is so clean and warm, they don't seem to know that it's winter. We have enough eggs for our own use, and some to sell besides--I guess there won't be any to sell _this_ week, will there? You'll like James's wife, I'm sure, Austin, and you, too, Mr. Stevens--she's a nice, healthy, jolly girl with good sense, I'm sure. She's not as pretty as my girls, but, then, few are, of course, in my eyes. It's plain to see they just set their eye-teeth by each other--Sadie and James, I mean--and, of course, Fred is about most of the time; so with two pairs of lovers, it keeps things lively, I can tell you." "Has Thomas recovered?" inquired Austin. "Indeed, he hasn't! It's mean of us all to make fun of him--he's very much in earnest." "How does Sylvia take it?" asked Sylvia's uncle. "I don't think she notices." "Oh, don't you?" said Mr. Stevens, in the same interested tone he had used before. Mrs. Gray was standing in the door to receive them, even if it was twenty below zero, and was laughing and crying with her great boy in her arms before he was half out of the sleigh. The kissing that had taken place at the Fessendens' was nothing to that which now occurred at the Grays'; for when he had finished with his mother, Austin found all his sisters waiting for him, clamoring for the same welcome, and he ended with his new sister-in-law, and then began all over again. Meanwhile Mr. Stevens stood looking vainly about, and finally interrupted with "Where's _my_ girl?" "Oh, _there_, Mr. Stevens!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray, wiping her eyes, and settling her hair, "it was downright careless of me not to tell you right away, but I was so excited over Austin that I forgot all about it for a minute; of course, it's a dreadful disappointment to you, but it just couldn't seem to be helped. Frank--my son-in-law, you know, that lives in White Water--telephoned down this morning that the trained nurse had left, an' little Elsie was ailin', an' the hired girl so green, an' nothin' would do but that Sylvia must traipse up there to help Ruth before I could say 'Jack Robinson.'"