Give him a kiss, dear, and tell
him how very glad we are to see him."
Then Elta was in turn embraced by the mud-bespattered young man, who
gravely announced that he should never have recognized her.
"No wonder, for she was only a baby when you last saw her!" exclaimed
Mrs. Caspar; "and I'm sure I should never have recognized you but for
your voice. I don't know how you look even now, and I sha'n't until
you wash your face."
"What's the matter with my face? Is it dirty?" asked the young man.
For answer Mrs. Caspar led him in front of a mirror.
"Well, I should say it was dirty! In fact, dirty is no name at all for
it!" he laughed. "I believe I look about as bad as Binney Gibbs[1] did
when he covered himself with 'mud and glory' at the same time, or
rather when his mule did it for him."
"Who is Binney Gibbs?" asked both Mrs. Caspar and Elta.
"Binney? Why, he is a young fellow, about Winn's age, who went across
the plains with me a year ago. By-the-way, where is Winn? I want to
see the boy. And where is the Major?"
Then, as Mrs. Caspar explained the absence of her husband and son, all
her anxieties returned, so that before she finished her face again wore
a very sober and troubled expression.
"So that is the situation, is it?" remarked the new-comer,
reflectively.
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