A JOURNEY TO NATURE 



letter. It came last night. Mr. Minnerly brought 

 it up with the empty barrels. I thought it might 

 be important.&quot; 



As she leaned over to give me the letter, which 

 I saw was from the Doctor, I wondered if it was 

 necessary for her to put on those six-button gloves 

 and that exquisite little French boot to bring the 

 letter to me. But she went on quite matter-of- 

 fact like, &quot;A week from next Thursday is Thanks 

 giving, and Gabe thought maybe you would like 

 to eat dinner at the house.&quot; 



I was about to thank her, when I caught that 

 look in the corner of her eye. I must have stared 

 instead, as if Shakspere s Beatrice had arrived. 

 The very words danced before my eyes. &quot; I took 

 no more pains for those thanks than you take 

 pains to thank me. If it had been painful, I 

 would not have come.&quot; 



&quot; Gabe thought so, did he ? &quot; I said, beating a 

 kind of mental retreat. &quot; Well, I guess Charlie 

 and I will rough it out together on canned turkey 

 and bottled cranberries, eh, Charlie ? &quot; 



I began to think I was the only one with a foil, 

 and that I was brandishing it rather absurdly. 

 &quot; Of course,&quot; I said, &quot; it would be pleasanter for 

 you if you had some company on Thanksgiving 

 Day.&quot; She must have read underneath my man 

 ner that it only needed the faintest of invitations 

 for me to rush headlong to the homestead, but I 

 was determined not to go without it. I was master 

 of the situation, and intended to be as obdurately 

 cruel as the circumstances would warrant. 



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