They did not linger long, and when they came below, the folding-doors to the dining-room were opened and the butler announced dinner.
It was a jolly meal, and the cadets were made to feel perfectly at home.
Mr.Ford asked them how they were getting along in school, and was surprised when told that they hoped to graduate from the Hall the following June.
"We shall miss your visits to the Lodge," said Mrs.Ford.
"You'll have to visit us anyway--if you get a chance," said Laura, and all of the cadets said they would remember her kind words.

Then they talked about old times, and especially about the time when the boys had visited the Lodge and killed the tiger that had escaped from the circus, as related in "The Putnam Hall Cadets," and of how the girls had visited the cadets in the woods, when the boys had run away from the Hall, as told of in "The Putnam Hall Rebellion." "I'd like to go to a boarding-school," said Flossie.

"It must be lots of fun!" "Fun and work, mixed," answered Andy.
After the dinner, over which they took their time, the young folks gathered around the piano and sang and played, and they also had several dances, with the old folks looking on.

All too soon it came time for the boys to go back to the Hall.
"I have ordered the auto around," said Rossmore Ford.

"John can take you back, and he can also stop for your bicycles, if you wish." "Thank you very much," answered Jack.