It would have been laughable, had it not been pathetic, to watch her
drag Mr. Man into the games, and to see him succumb to her
persuasions with his face hanging out flaming signals of
embarrassment. In the 'Carrier Doves' the little pigeons flew with
an imaginary letter to him, and this meant that he was to stand and
read it aloud, as Mary and Edith had done before him.
'It seems to be a letter from a child,' he faltered, and then began
stammeringly, '"My dear Mr. Man"'--there was a sudden stop. That
there was a letter in his mind nobody could doubt, but he was too
greatly moved to read it. Rhoda quickly reached out her hand for the
paper, covering his discomfiture by exclaiming, 'The pigeons have
brought Mr. Man a letter from some children in his fatherland! Yes'
(reading), 'they hope that we will be good to him, because he is far
away from home, and they send their love to all Mistress Mary's
children. Wasn't it pretty of the doves to remember that Mr. Man is
a stranger here?'
The Solitary appeared for the last time a week before Thanksgiving
Day, and he opened the door on a scene of jollity that warmed him to
the heart.
In the middle of the floor was a mimic boat, crowded from stem to
stern with little Pilgrim fathers and mothers trying to land on
Plymouth Rock, in a high state of excitement and an equally high sea.
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