“I asked him what he meant,” said Flossie, who looked completely puzzled, “and he said that sometimes a man’s wits needed sharpening, and that Aunt Matilda would be a regular file.  Papa laughed, but mamma said:  ‘Harry, Harry, you really mustn’t,’ and he ran up to the music-room whistling ‘O dear, what can the matter be?’ I can’t help laughing even when I don’t understand his teasing jokes, he says things in such a funny way, while his eyes just dance.”

“He looked very handsome the day he wore his uniform, with the gold lace on it,” said Dorothy; “don’t you remember, Flossie?  Your aunt was on the piazza, and she stooped and pinned a rose in his buttonhole.  Do you think he knew how fine he looked, when he sprang into the saddle, and rode away?”

“I don’t know,” Flossie said, her blue eyes very thoughtful, “he never seems to think about it, and one thing I don’t at all understand, he’s big, and brave, and manly, yet he plays with me so gently, and he’s as full of fun as a boy.”

“That’s why we all like him,” said Nancy, “and he never acts as if we were just little girls, and so not worth noticing.”

“Do you remember the day that the tramp came into our kitchen, and frightened the cook?  Uncle Harry was just strolling along the driveway.  He walked into the kitchen, took the dirty tramp by the collar and marched him right out to the street,” and Flossie’s cheeks glowed with pride for her dear Uncle Harry.

“Yes, and a moment after, he saw little Reginald fall off his bicycle, and you ought to have seen how tenderly he picked him up, and brushed off the dust, and he was quite as gentle as mamma would have been.”

“Oh, he’s just fine,” said Mollie, “and I do wish he would visit our school on a day when Arabella’s aunt would be there!  I love to see him when he looks at her.  Someway he seems so very respectful, and yet his eyes laugh.”

“Well, it’s just a few days now before school begins, and what fun we’ll have,” said Flossie, “and perhaps Arabella will invite her aunt to one of our entertainments; if she does, I’m just sure Uncle Harry would go.”

“Oh, come here this minute, every one of you,” called a cheery voice, and Nina Earl stepped through an opening in the hedge.

“Why, how surprised you look!  I’ve been over to the stone cottage to call for you, Nancy, and Aunt Charlotte said that you were with Dorothy, so I ran across the lawn.  I could hear you all talking, and I was wild to tell you something.”

“Oh, tell it, tell it, Nina!” cried Mollie.

Nina looked back through the opening in the hedge.

“She’s just saying ‘good-morning’ to Aunt Charlotte,” she said, “and let me tell you something; she’s been all over the stone cottage, looking into this thing and peeping into that, till I’d think Aunt Charlotte would be wild.  It’s Arabella’s aunt, and she says she came to learn if the house was a healthy one to be in, and to see if the plumbing was all right.”