Part 50 (1/2)

”My boy! My poor boy!” she cried. ”Oh, what a terrible happening!” And she bent over and kissed him.

”Oh, don't worry, Aunt Martha; I'll soon be myself again,” answered Tom, as cheerfully as his spirits permitted.

”I've got the front room all ready for you,” went on the aunt. And she led the way into the house and to the apartment in question. Here the sufferer was put to bed, and his aunt did all in her power to make him comfortable. The local doctor had already been notified, and soon he appeared, to read a note written by the city specialist and listen to what Sam had to tell him. Then he took charge and said Tom must be kept very quiet.

”It shall be as you say, Doctor,” said Mrs. Rover. And after that, for a number of days, n.o.body but the members of the family was allowed to go in and talk to the youth.

In the meantime, d.i.c.k and his father had several interviews with their lawyer, and also with a lawyer who represented Pelter, j.a.pson, and Belright Fogg. The brokers and Fogg were anxious to hush matters up, and promised to do whatever was wanted by the Rovers if they would drop the case against them.

”I think we had better arrange matters, d.i.c.k,” said Mr. Rover, with a sigh. ”I am tired of fighting. If they will do the fair thing all around, let them go.”

”Just as you say, Father,” replied d.i.c.k. ”But they must give up everything that belongs to us.”

”Well, you can see to it that they do--you and Mr. Powell,” answered Anderson Rover. ”I am going back to the farm to rest, and after that I think I'll travel a little for my health.”

”All right, Dad. But--but----” d.i.c.k stammered and grew red. ”You--er--you won't go away until after my wedding, will you?”

”No, d.i.c.k, I'll stay home until after you and Dora are married,”

answered Mr. Rover, with a quiet smile.

CHAPTER x.x.x

MRS. d.i.c.k ROVER--CONCLUSION

”The day of days, d.i.c.k!”

”Right you are, Sam! And what a perfect day it is!”

”Oh, I had this weather made to order,” came from Tom Rover, with a grin.

”How do you feel, Tom?” questioned his big brother kindly, as he turned away from the window to look at the lad who had been hurt.

”Oh, I'm as chipper as a catbird with two tails!” sang out the fun-loving Rover. But his pale face was not in keeping with his words.

Tom was not yet himself. But he wasn't going to show it--especially on d.i.c.k's wedding day.

All of the Rovers had come up to Cedarville and they were now stopping at the home of Mr. Laning, the father of Grace and Nellie. As my old readers know, the Stanhopes lived but a short distance away, and nearby was Putnam Hall, where the boys had spent so many happy days.

Dora had left Hope as soon as it was settled that she and d.i.c.k should be married, and she and her mother, and the others, had been busy for some time getting ready for the wedding. Nellie and Grace were also home, and were as much excited as Dora herself, for they were both to be bridesmaids. The girls had spent several days in New York, shopping, and a dressmaker from the city had been called in to dress the young ladies as befitted the occasion.

Tom was to be d.i.c.k's best man, while Sam was to head the ushers at the church--the other ushers being Songbird, Stanley, Fred Garrison, Larry Colby, and Bart Conners. A delegation of students from Brill--including William Philander Tubbs--had also come up, and were quartered at the Cedarville Hotel.

The wedding was to take place at the Cedarville Union Church, a quaint little stone edifice, covered with ivy, which the Stanhopes and the Lanings both attended and which the Rover boys had often visited while they were cadets at Putnam Hall. The interior of the church was a ma.s.s of palms, sent up on the boat from Ithaca.

Following the sending out of the invitations to the wedding, presents had come in thick and fast to the Stanhope home. From d.i.c.k's father came an elegant silver service, and from his brothers a beautifully-decorated dinner set; while Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha contributed a fine set of the latest encyclopaedias, and a specially-bound volume of the uncle's book on scientific farming! Mr.

Anderson Rover also contributed a bank book with an amount written therein that nearly took away Dora's breath.

”Oh, d.i.c.k, just look at the sum!” she cried.