The pent-up roar burst forth at last. "Father, he _hain't_ brought home a monkey!" Mrs. Lem's consciousness of the trail on her black brilliantine suddenly failed to support her company manner. "Do tell me you're foolin'!" she added acutely. "Why, I think 't would be splendid!" cried Minty eagerly, watching her grandfather's heaving shoulders. "Where'd ye leave 'em, grandpa?" "Daown t' the Basin." Minty clapped her hands, and her round eyes shone. "To let it have a drink and run through the woods. Oh, what fun! I'll let it sleep with me." Her mother gave her a sounding slap. "Hold your tongue, Minty Foster, and let the cap'n speak. Why did Thinkright ask me to get the best room ready, then? If a monkey comes into this house I go out of it, and I _stay_ out." "'Tain't a monkey, no, 'tain't," returned Cap'n Lem tearfully but pacifically; "but I made the best joke, Lucil, if I do say it. I'm laughin' yit. Ye couldn't 'preciate it till ye see her, then I'll tell ye, an if yew don't bust your sides"-- "Her? Is she young or old?" demanded Mrs. Lem, recovering a sense of the lustre on her brilliantine. "Oh, pretty so-so," returned her father-in-law aggravatingly. "Then they'll be up here in a few minutes," said Mrs. Lem, her black eyes snapping. "Get in out o' the wind, Minty, or you won't have no Boston left." She smoothed the limp roll into which Minty's front hair had been coaxed, and pushed her inside the open door, where the child lingered. "You might tell who she is, grandpa," she called. "Why, then,--come now, I will. It's mean to tease ye. It's Miss Lacey." "Oh--!" A long-drawn sound of disappointment escaped from both his hearers. "Why couldn't Thinkright have said so!" exclaimed Mrs. Lem. "Miss Lacey'd jest as lieves have seen us in our every-day things." "I don't care," said Minty, hopeful still. "Miss Lacey nearly always brings me somethin'." "Take that pink ribbon right off your braid," commanded her mother, reentering the house. "Oh, no, ma, it goes so good with this dress," pleaded Minty, looking down affectionately at the red plaid. "Let her keep 'em on," said Cap'n Lem. "They ain't no time to change. They're a-comin' right up. Thinkright asked me to tell ye they'd be here for supper. They hain't had nothin' but trash on the road, I guess. Miss Lacey looks kind o' peak-ed;" and so saying, the old man drove on to the barn, his eyes closed tight as he slapped his knee in enjoyment of this second witticism, possibly even better than the first. Minty skipped around helping her mother with the tea things, but her round eyes were first to discern the pair who came in sight on the hillside. "There they be," she exclaimed, running to the window; "and ma," in deep excitement, "they're hookin' arms!" "What are you talkin' about?" exclaimed her mother, whose pompadour fairly heaved in the jerk with which its wearer rose from the oven at this significant information.