During the meal I heard that Dug Draper had run off with a neighbor's horse and buggy and had not yet returned.

Aunt Deel said that he had taken me with him out of spite, and that he would probably never come back--a suspicion justified by the facts of history.
When the great man had gone Uncle Peabody took me in his lap and said very gently and with a serious look: "You didn't think I meant it, did ye ?--that you would have to go 'way from here ?" "I don't know," was my answer.
"Course I didn't mean that.

I just wanted ye to see that it wa'n't goin' to do for you to keep on tippin' things over so." I sat telling them of my adventures and answering questions, flattered by their tender interest, until milking time.

I thoroughly enjoyed all that.

When I rose to go out with Uncle Peabody, Aunt Deel demanded my shoes.
"Take 'em right off," said she.