"
[Illustration: "Yes, sir," called Joel back, from the alcove.]
"All right," said Eleanor, and one of the stable boys coming out to meet
the pony, they both jumped out of the runabout and ran up the back veranda
steps.
"It's funny he didn't come down this way, if he wanted us to drive to the
stable," cried Eleanor. "Mamma, do say you think it's queer. It would be
some comfort if you would."
"Well, I will, then," laughed Mrs. Keep, and there stood Doctor Fisher at
the dining-room door, and the minute she saw his face she knew that
something dreadful had happened.
"Well, Joel, my boy." Old Mr. King, who had been consulting his watch every
five minutes, whirled around in his big chair. "Time to lay down the work,"
he called cheerily.
"Yes, sir," called Joel back, from the alcove.
"And I'm sure if ever an hour was long, this last one has been," the old
gentleman was saying to himself. Joel, who was rather stiff in the joints
when first getting up from his work on the carpet, now came out feeling his
arms, and then indulging in a good long stretch.
"It seems rather good--eh, Joe?--to swing your arms," cried Grandpapa with
a laugh, and a keen glance into the black eyes.
"Yes, _sir,_" declared Joel, with another stretch, and wondering if
ever anything was so good in this world as to be told the hour was up.
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