“No, boy, not right now,” answered that great Gouverneur Faulkner as he turned and laid a large warm hand on each of my shoulders.  “The crisis is at hand and I need you here for a little time.  I can’t explain it, but—­but you seem to feed—­feed my faith in myself.  In just a few days I’ve grown to depend on you to—­to—.  You ridiculous boy, you, with your storms and joy sunbursts, get out of here and tell Cato to send Mr. Whitworth and Mr. Brown into my office immediately.”  And with a laugh and a shake of me away from his side, the Gouverneur Faulkner picked up the two long sheets of paper which had been of so much labor to my Buzz and me and began to scowl back of his black, white-tipped eyebrows over them.  I departed with great rapidity.

Then with much more calmness I told the great news of the back of Pierre to my Uncle, the General Robert.

“That’s fine—­now we can give her away without any trouble.  I knew Burns could do the trick.  It’s a bargain at two thousand dollars to get a girl in the shape to give away.  She could give us no end of bother if we had to keep her.  Go find that flea, Clendenning, and tell him to come to me immediately; I think he is buzzing in the telephone closet to that Susan.  And you go get busy yourself to earn your salary from the State of Harpeth.  Telegraph twenty dollars to that fool nurse to buy a doll for the girl.  Now go!” That was the way that my Uncle, the General Robert, received my news of the improved health of the back of small Pierre, and with my two eyes I shed a few secret tears that did roll down into my mouth which was broad from a laugh as I went in search of my Buzz.

“Bully, old top,” said my Bumble Bee as I imparted also my joy to him.  “Say, if that kid is eight years old and is going to walk all right, we must see to it that she starts in with a good dancing teacher as soon as she can spin around.  We want to make a real winner out of her.”

“I do love you, my Buzz,” I answered to him as I clung with both my hands to his arm across my shoulder.

“That’s all right.  Prince, but don’t talk about it,” he answered me with a laugh and a shake.

“And, say, let’s get to work, because at about four o’clock I’ll have something that’ll give you a start.”

“Oh, but, my Buzz, at four o’clock I must go for tea to the home of beautiful Madam Whitworth.”

“Whe-ee-uh!” whistled my Buzz as he looked at me from the top of my head to the toe of my shoe.

“It would give me a much greater pleasure to be startled by you, my Buzz, but this is a promise I did make the last evening,” I pleaded to him.

“Go ahead, sport, but accept it from me that Madam Pat is the genuine and original pump; so don’t let her empty you.  Do you want me to come by and extract you at about fifteen to five?  I’m sorry, but I really must have a business interview with you before six.”  And my Buzz’s eyes twinkled with something that was of a great pleasure to him I could observe.