Mr. Hamlin regarded her with a paternal smile. "I will get out and walk around a bit, to rest my legs," he replied.
Once he was out of the buggy, Addison and I took his horse to the stable; and Theodora having first shown him the garden and the long row of bee hives, led the way to the cool sitting-room, and domesticated him in an easy chair. We heard her relating recent events of our family history to him, and answering his questions.
Meantime the fried pies were waiting and getting cold; and when Addison and I had returned from the stable, we all began to feel a little impatient. Ellen and Kate set the pies in the oven, to keep them warm; we did not like to begin eating them with company in the sitting-room, and so lingered hungrily about, awaiting developments. "How long s'pose he will stay!" Halse exclaimed crossly; and Addison began brushing up a little, in order to go in and help do the honors of the house with Theodora.
"He is a pretty nice old fellow," Addison remarked to Kate. "Have you any idea who he is?"
But Kate, though born in the county, had never seen him. Just then the sitting-room door opened, and we heard "Doad" saying, "We haven't much for luncheon to-day, but fried pies, but we shall all be glad to have you sit down with us."
"What an awful fib!" whispered Ellen behind her hand to Kate; and truth to say, his coming had rather upset our anticipated pleasure; but Mr.
Hamlin had taken a great fancy to Theodora and was accepting her invitation, with vast good-nature.
What a great dark man he looked, as he followed Theodora out to the table.
"These are my cousins that I have told you of," she was saying, and then mentioned all our names to him and afterwards Kate's, although Mr.
Hamlin had not seen fit to tell us his own; we supposed that he was merely some pleasant old acquaintance of Gramp's early years.
He was seated in Gramp's place at table and, after a brief flurry in the kitchen, the big platterful of fried pies was brought in. What Ellen and Theodora had done was, carefully to pick out the two "Jonahs" and lay them aside. We were now all gathered around. Addison and Theodora exchanged glances and there was a little pause of interrogation, in case our caller might possibly be a clergyman, after all, and might wish to say grace.
He evinced no disposition to do so, however; and laughing a little in spite of herself, Doad raised the platter and assayed to pass it to our guest.
"And are these the 'fried pies?'" he asked with the broadest of smiles.
"They resemble huge doughnuts. But I now remember that my mother used to fry something like this, when I was a boy at home, over at Paris Hill; and my recollection is that they were very good."
"Yes, the most of them are very good," said Addison, by way of making conversation, "unless you happen to get the 'Jonah.'"
"And what's the 'Jonah?'" asked our visitor.
Amidst much laughter, this was explained to him--also the penalty. Mr.
Hamlin burst forth in a great shout of laughter, which led us to surmise that he enjoyed fun.
"But we have taken the 'Jonahs' out of these," Theodora made haste to reassure him.
"What for?" he exclaimed.
"Why--why--because we have company," stammered Doad, much confused.
"And spoil the sport?" cried our visitor. "Young lady, I want those 'Jonahs' put back."
"Oh, but they are awful 'Jonahs!'" pleaded Theodora.
"I want those 'Jonahs' put back," insisted Mr. Hamlin. "I shall have to decline to lunch here, unless the 'Jonahs' are in their proper places.
Fetch in the 'Jonahs.'"
Very shamefaced, Ellen brought them in.
"No hokus-pokus now," cried our visitor, and nothing would answer, but that we should all turn our backs and shut our eyes, while Kate put them among the others in the platter.
It was then passed and all chose one. "Each take a good, deep mouthful,"
cried Mr. Hamlin, entering mirthfully into the spirit of the game.
"Altogether--now!"
We all bit, eight bites at once; as it chanced no one got a "Jonah," and the eight fried pies rapidly disappeared.
"But these are good!" cried our visitor, "Mine was gooseberry." Then turning to Theodora, "How many times can a fellow try for a 'Jonah'
here?"
"Five times!" replied Doad, laughing and not a little pleased with the praise.
The platter was passed again, and again no one got bran and cayenne.
But at the third passing, I saw Kate start visibly when our visitor chose his pie. "All ready. Bite!" he cried; and we bit! but at the first taste he stopped short, rolled his eyes around and shook his head with his capacious mouth full.
"Oh, but you need not eat it, sir!" cried Theodora, rushing round to him. "You need not do anything!"
But without a word our bulky visitor had sunk slowly out of his chair and pushing it back, disappeared under the long table.
For a moment we all sat, scandalized, then shouted in spite of ourselves. In the midst of our confused hilarity, the table began to oscillate; it rose slowly several inches, then moved off, rattling, toward the sitting-room door! Our jolly visitor had it on his back and was crawling ponderously but carefully away with it on his hands and knees;--and the rest of us were getting ourselves and our chairs out of the way! In fact, the remainder of that luncheon was a perfect gale of laughter. The table _walked_ clean around the room and came very carefully back to its original position.
After the hilarity had subsided, the girls served some very nice large, sweet blackberries, which our visitor appeared to relish greatly. He told us of his boyhood at Paris Hill; of his fishing for trout in the brooks thereabouts, of the time he broke his arm and of the doctor who set it so unskilfully that it had to be broken again and re-set; of the beautiful tourmaline crystals which he and his brother found at Mt.
Mica; and of his school-days at Hebron Academy; and all with such feeling and such a relish, that for an hour we were rapt listeners.
[Illustration: FRIED PIES.]
When at length he declared that he positively must be going on his way, we begged him to remain over night, and brought out his horse with great reluctance.
Before getting into the buggy, he took us each by the hand and saluted the girls, particularly "Doad," in a truly paternal manner.
"I've had a good time!" said he. "I am glad to see you all here at this old farm in my dear native state; but (and we saw the moisture start in his great black eyes) it touches my heart more than I can tell you, to know of the sad reason for your coming here. You have my heartiest sympathy.
"Tell your grandparents, that I should have been very glad to see them,"
he added, as he got in the buggy and took the reins from Addison.
"But, sir," said Theodora, earnestly, for we were all crowding up to the buggy, "grandfather will ask who it was that called."
"Oh, well, you can describe me to him!" cried Mr. Hamlin, laughing (for he knew how cut up we should feel if he told us who he really was). "And if he cannot make me out, you may tell him that it was an old fellow he once knew, named Hamlin. Good-by." And he drove away. The name signified little to us at the time.
"Well, whoever he is, he's an old brick!" said Halse, as the gray horse and buggy passed between the high gate-posts, at the foot of the lane.
"I think he is just splendid!" exclaimed Kate, enthusiastically.
"And he has such a great, kind heart!" said Theodora.
When Gramp and Gram came home, we were not slow in telling them that a most remarkable elderly man, named Hamlin, had called to see them, and stopped to lunch with us.
"Hamlin, Hamlin," repeated the Old Squire, absently. "What sort of looking man?"
Theodora and Ellen described him, with much zest.