“Are you going to be married?” asked Betty, so soberly that the boys shouted, and Thorny, with difficulty, composed himself sufficiently to explain.

“No, child, not just yet; but sister is, and I must go and see that is all done up ship-shape, and bring you home some wedding-cake.  Ben will take care of you while I’m gone.”

“When shall you go?” asked Bab, beginning to long for her share of cake.

“To-morrow, I guess.  Celia has been packed and ready for a week.  We agreed to meet George in New York, and be married as soon as he got his best clothes unpacked.  We are men of our word, and off we go.  Wont it be fun?”

“But when will you come back again?” questioned Betty, looking anxious.

“Don’t know.  Sister wants to come soon, but I’d rather have our honeymoon somewhere else,—­Niagara, Newfoundland, West Point, or the Rocky Mountains,” said Thorny, mentioning a few of the places he most desired to see.

“Do you like him?” asked Ben, very naturally wondering if the new master would approve of the young man-of-all-work.

“Don’t I?  George is regularly jolly; though now he’s a minister, perhaps he’ll stiffen up and turn sober.  Wont it be a shame if he does?” and Thorny looked alarmed at the thought of losing his congenial friend.

“Tell about him; Miss Celia said you might,” put in Bab, whose experience of “jolly” ministers had been small.

“Oh, there isn’t much about it.  We met in Switzerland going up Mount St. Bernard in a storm, and—­”

“Where the good dogs live?” inquired Betty, hoping they would come into the story.

“Yes; we spent the night up there, and George gave us his room; the house was so full, and he wouldn’t let me go down a steep place where I wanted to, and Celia thought he’d saved my life, and was very good to him.  Then we kept meeting, and the first thing I knew she went and was engaged to him.  I didn’t care, only she would come home so he might go on studying hard and get through quick.  That was a year ago, and last winter we were in New York at uncle’s; and then, in the spring, I was sick, and we came here, and that’s all.”

“Shall you live here always when you come back?” asked Bab, as Thorny paused for breath.

“Celia wants to.  I shall go to college, so I don’t mind.  George is going to help the old minister here and see how he likes it.  I’m to study with him, and if he is as pleasant as he used to be we shall have capital times,—­see if we don’t.”

“I wonder if he will want me round,” said Ben, feeling no desire to be a tramp again.

“I do, so you needn’t fret about that, my hearty,” answered Thorny, with a resounding slap on the shoulder which re-assured Ben more than any promises.

“I’d like to see a live wedding, then we could play it with our dolls.  I’ve got a nice piece of mosquito netting for a veil, and Belinda’s white dress is clean.  Do you s’pose Miss Celia will ask us to hers?” said Betty to Bab, as the boys began to discuss St. Bernard dogs with spirit.