"Say, Grandpapa, what makes it?"
"Oh, it's so far up in the air," answered old Mr. King. "Don't you
remember how cold it was up on the Rigi, and that was about nine
thousand feet lower?"
"Oh, Grandpapa!" exclaimed Phronsie, in gentle surprise, unable to
compass such figures.
Mr. King's party had made one or two pleasant little journeys to the
Lauterbrunnen Valley, staying there and at M?rren, and to Grindelwald
as well; but they came back to sit on the benches by the walnut and the
plane trees, in front of the matchless Jungfrau. "And this is best of
all," said Polly.
And so the days slipped by, till one morning, at the breakfast table,
Mrs. Selwyn said, "Tomorrow we must say good-by--my boy and I."
"Hey--what?" exclaimed Mr. King, setting his coffee-cup down, not very
gently.
"Our vacation cannot be a very long one," said Tom's mother, with a
little smile; "there are my father and my two daughters and my other
boys in England."
Tom's face was all awry as Mr. King said, "And you mean to say, Mrs.
Selwyn, that you really must move on to-morrow?"
"Yes; we really must," she said decidedly. "But oh," and her plain,
quiet face changed swiftly, "you cannot know how sorry we shall be to
leave your party."
"In that case, Mrs. Fisher,"--old Mr. King looked down the table-length
to Mamsie,--"we must go too; for I don't intend to lose sight of these
nice travelling companions until I am obliged to.
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