The telegram came.
"They are all right," shouted Mr. Garner joyously, as he
quickly opened and read the yellow missive, "they went on
the excursion and Sam Lamb is bringing them home on the
accommodation."
As the Major, short, plump, rubicund, jolly, and Miss
Minerva, tall, sallow, angular, solemn, were walking to the
station to meet the train that was bringing home the
runaways, the elderly lover knew himself to be at last
master of the situation.
"The trouble with Billy--" he began, adjusting his steps to
Miss Minerva's mincing walk.
"William," she corrected, faintly.
"The trouble with Billy," repeated her suitor firmly, "is
this: you have tried to make a girl out of a healthy,
high-spirited boy; you haven't given him the toys and
playthings a boy should have; you have not even given the
child common love and affection." He was letting himself go,
for he knew that she needed the lecture, and, wonderful to
tell, she was listening meekly. "You have steeled your
heart," he went on, "against Billy and against me.
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