"Well, here he is. Perhaps you can tell by looking at him", said he,
handing her a tooth, he had just had extracted, and bursting into a
boyish laugh.

"O! yer go along, Massa John. I might hev knowed it was one of yer
deceitful tricks", said Aunt Esther, trying to conceal her amusement,
by putting on an injured look. "There, the fire burns now. Yer jest
put on them dry clothes as quick as ever yer can, or mebbe ye'll lose
another friend before long".

"It shall be done as you say, beloved Aunt Esther", said he, rising
and bowing profoundly, as she left the room.

Having obeyed the worthy woman's injunction, he drew the easy-chair to
the fire, leaned his head back and spent the next half hour hovering
between consciousness and dreamland.

From this state, he was roused by a gentle tap on his door, followed
by his mother's voice, saying, "John, dear?"

John rose instantly, threw the door wide open and ushered in the lady,
saying, "Come in, little queen mother, come in", and bowing over her
hand with a pompous, yet courtly grace.

Mrs. Lansdowne, when seen a short time since walking in her solitude,
seemed quite lofty in stature, but now, standing for a moment beside
the regal height of her son, one could fully justify him in bestowing
upon her the title with which he had greeted her.

John Lansdowne was fast developing, physically as well as mentally