. And he was so proud of the sentiment that he looked around
proudly and mopped his forehead.
‘Perhaps they would nt be earls if they knew any better,”
said Cedric, feeling some vague sympathy for their unhappy
condition. :
“Would nt they!” said Mr. Hobbs. ‘ They just glory in it!
It’sin’em. They ’re a bad lot.”
They were in the midst of their conversation, when Mary
appeared. Cedric thought she had come to buy some sugar, per¬
haps, but she had not. She looked almost pale and as if she were
excited about something.
‘“Come home, darlint,” she said; "the misthress is wantin’ yez.”
Cedric slipped down from his stool.
“Does she want me to go out with her, Mary?” he asked.
‘“Good-morning, Mr. Hobbs. I Il see you again.”
He was surprised to see Mary staring at him in a dumfounded
fashion, and he wondered why she kept shaking her head.
‘ What’s the matter, Mary?” he said. “Is it the hot weather?”
‘No,’ said Mary; ‘‘but there s strange things happenin to us.”
‘“Has the sun given Dearest a headache?” he inquired anxiously.
But it was not that. When he reached his own house there
was a coupé standing before the door, and some one was in the
little parlor talking to his mamma. Mary hurried him upstairs and
put on his best summer suit of cream-colored flannel, with the red
scarf around his waist, and combed out his curly locks.
. Lords, is it?” he heard her say. "An the nobility an gintry.
Och! bad cess to them! Lords, indade — worse luck.”
It was really very puzzling, but he felt sure his mamma would
tell him what all the excitement meant, so he allowed Mary to
bemoan herself without asking many questions. When he was
dressed, he ran downstairs and went into the parlor. A tall, thin