Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. PREPARATION. I Left Theodora setting the tea-table ; she had hardly finished when her father and the boys came in, the latter, as she had predicted, ravenously hungry; but they had to restrain their appetites until all traces of their recent tramp were removed, for without such preliminaries they were never allowed to sit down to a meal. " Dode's up to something, I know,1' said Dick, as he took his seat at the table; " her mouth's twitching. Out with it, Dode ! " "I know," exclaimed Fra.nk; "she's had a letter, — Joe told me he got her one. Say. Code, was it from Mr. Sweeten?" " Mr. Sweeton ! " exclaimed Theodora, coloring slightly ; "you ought to be ashamed of yourself, Frank." " Well, he was a sweet un on you, and no mistake," said Dick ; " but I didn't believe you'd correspond with him." "If I couldn't make a better pun than that, I'd give it up," replied Theodora. Mr. Hartwell looked up at the mention of Mr. Sweeton, who was the young minister down in the village, at the present time away for a vacation. "Theodora," he said, "what does this all mean? Have you had a letter from Mr. Sweeton ? " "No, father," replied Theodora, coloring under the chapter{Section 4I mischievous glances of her brothers, "nothing of the kind,—it was from Uncle Jack." " Uncle Jack ! " cried Dick. "Uncle Jack!" echoed Frank,— "is he coming here ? " " Well, that is a difficult question to answer," replied Theodora, looking at her mother with a mischievous expression on her face; " but I guess he will." " That's jolly ! " exclaimed Ralph, the youngest boy, who had been too busily engaged with his supper to make any comment before. "There now, father," said Theodora, "you see bow anxious the boys all are to see him ; but yet it all depends on...