special performances as cook, and as milliner to the lobsters, was, that
he felt himself thenceforth bound to be somewhat carefully polite to Joe
and Fuz. The remaining days of their visit would have been altogether
too few for the varied entertainments he laid out for them, in his own
mind, by way of reparation for his unlucky "practical joke." They were
to catch all there was in the bay. They were to ride everywhere. They
were to be shown every thing there was to see.

"They don't deserve it, Dab," said Ford; "but you're a real good fellow.
Mother says so."

"Does she?" said Dab; and he evidently felt a good deal relieved, after
that.

Mr. Richard Lee, when his friends once more found time to think of him,
had almost disappeared from the public eye.

Some three days after "the trip," while all the other boys were out in
the "Jenny," having a good time with their hooks and lines, Dick's
mother made her appearance in Mrs. Kinzer's dining-room, or Miranda's,
with a face that was even darker than usual, with a cloud of motherly
anxiety.

"Miss Kinzer," she said, "has you seen my Dick, dis week?"

"No: he hasn't been here at all. Is there any thing the matter with
him?"

"Dat's de berry question. I jes' doesn't know wot to make ob 'im."