this was the best fun of all.
“I didn’t! When? Where? It’s a joke!”
“You did,” cried Jill, pointing to the rug. “You went to sleep there
after the long walk, and talked in your sleep about ‘Bob’ and ‘All
right, old boy,’ and ever so much gibberish. I didn’t think about it
then, but when I heard that Bob was up there I thought maybe he
knew something about it, and last night I wrote and asked him, and
that’s the answer, and now it is all right, and you are the best boy
that ever was, and I’m so glad!”
Here Jill paused, all out of breath, and Frank said, with an
approving pat on the head,
“It won’t do to have such a sharp young person round if we are
going to have secrets. You’d make a good detective, miss.”
“Catch me taking naps before people again”; and Jack looked
rather crestfallen that his own words had set “Fine Ear” on the
track. “Never mind, I didn’t mean to tell, though I just ached to do
it all the time, so I haven’t broken my word. I’m glad you all know,
but you needn’t let it get out, for Bob is a good fellow, and it might
make trouble for him,” added Jack, anxious lest his gain should be
the other’s loss.
“I shall tell Mr. Acton myself, and the Captain, also, for I’m not
going to have my son suspected of wrong-doing when he has only
tried to help a friend, and borne enough for his sake,” said
Mamma, much excited by this discovery of generous fidelity in her
boy; though when one came to look at it calmly, one saw that it
might have been done in a wiser way.
“Now, please, don’t make a fuss about it; that would be most as
bad as having everyone down on me. I can stand your praising me,
but I won’t be patted on the head by anybody else”; and Jack
assumed a manly air, though his face was full of genuine boyish
pleasure at being set right in the eyes of those he loved.
“I’ll be discreet, dear, but you owe it to yourself, as well as Bob, to
have the truth known. Both have behaved well, and no harm will
come to him, I am sure. I’ll see to that myself,” said Mrs. Minot, in
a tone that set Jack’s mind at rest on that point.
“Now do tell all about it,” cried Jill, who was pining to know the
whole story, and felt as if she had earned the right to hear it.
“Oh, it wasn’t much. We promised Ed to stand by Bob, so I did as
well as I knew how”; and Jack seemed to think that was about all
there was to say.
“I never saw such a fellow for keeping a promise! You stick to it
through thick and thin, no matter how silly or hard it is. You
remember, mother, last summer, how you told him not to go in a
boat and he promised, the day we went on the picnic. We rode up,
but the horse ran off home, so we had to come back by way of the
river, all but Jack, and he walked every step of five miles because
he wouldn’t go near a boat, though Mr. Burton was there to take
care of him. I call that rather overdoing the matter”; and Frank
looked as if he thought moderation even in virtue a good thing.
“And I call it a fine sample of entire obedience. He obeyed orders,
and that is what we all must do, without always seeing why, or
daring to use our own judgment. It is a great safeguard to Jack, and
a very great comfort to me; for I know that if he promises he will
keep his word, no matter what it costs him,” said Mamma warmly,
as she tumbled up the quirls with an irrepressible caress,
remembering how the boy came wearily in after all the others,
without seeming for a moment to think that he could have done
anything else.
“Like Casabianca!” cried Jill, much impressed, for obedience was