Page:Ralph Connor - The man from Glengarry.djvu/234

  "Here is Ranald!" called Hughie at the top of his voice, as he entered the room where the family were gathered.

"You don't say so, Hughie?" answered his cousin, coming forward,, "You ought to make that fact known. We all want to hear it."

Ranald liked him from the first. He was not a bit "proud" in spite of his fine clothes and his head being "split in the middle."

"You're the chap," he said, stretching out his hand to Ranald, "that snatched Maimie from the fire. Mighty clever thing to do. We have heard a lot about you at our house. Why, every week—"

"Let some one else talk, Harry," interrupted Maimie, with cheeks flaming. "We are going to have some singing now. Here is auntie. Mayn't we use the piano?"

"Why, yes, I suppose so," said Mrs. Murray. "I was glad to see your father there to-night," she said to Ranald.

"And Yankee, mother."

"Hush, Hughie; you must call people by their right names. Now let us have some singing. I hear Ranald is singing bass these days."

"And bully good bass, too," cried Hughie. "John 'Aleck' says that it's the finest bass in the whole singing school."

"Well, Hughie," said his mother, quietly, "I don't think it is necessary to shout even such pleasant information as that. Now go to your singing, and I shall listen."