here I am." 

 Willie scanned the stranger's face meditatively. 

 "Then you're clear of work, an' startin' off on your summer vacation." 

 "That's about it," confessed Bob. 

 "Anything to take you West right away?" 

 "N—o—nothing, except that the family have not seen me for some time. I've accepted a business position with a New York firm, but I don't start in there until October." 

 "You're your own master for four months, eh?" 

 "Yes, sir." 

 "Well, I ain't a-goin' to urge you to put in your time here; but I will say again, in case you've forgotten it, that so long as you're content to remain with us we'd admire to have you.  'Twould give your aunt no end of pleasure, I'll be bound, an' I'd enjoy it as well as she would." 

 "You're certainly not considerin' goin' back to Boston today!" chimed in Celestina. 

 "I was," laughed Bob. 

 "You may as well put that notion right out of your head," said Willie, "for we shan't let you carry out no such crazy scheme." 

 "But to come launching down on you this way—" began the younger man. 

 "You ain't come launchin' down," objected his aunt with spirit.  "We ain't got nothin' to do but inventin', an' I reckon that can wait." 

 Glancing playfully at Willie she saw a sudden light of eagerness flash into his countenance. But Bob, not understanding the allusion, looked from one of them to the other in puzzled silence. 

 "All right, Aunt Tiny," he at last announced, "if you an' Mr. Spence really want me to, I should be delighted to stay with you a few days. The fact is," he added with boyish frankness, "my suit case is down behind the rose bushes this minute. Having sent most of my luggage home, and not knowing what I should do, I brought it along with me." 

 "You go straight out, young man, an' fetch it in," commanded 

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