"Mr. Coon," he said, "you are welcome, most welcome. Mr. Toto, your most obedient, sir. Cracker, I am delighted to see you. Very good of you all, I'm sure, to honor this little occasion with your distinguished presence. Will you--ah!--hum--will you sit down?"
The little host hesitated over this invitation; it would not be polite to ask his guests to be careful lest they should sit down _on_ the other guests, and yet they were so _very_ large, and took up so _much_ room,--two of them, at least! Coon, delighted at the sensation he had produced, was as gracious as possible, and sitting down with great care so as to avoid any catastrophe, looked about him with so benign an expression that the rest of the company began to take heart, and whiskers were pricked and tails were cocked again.
"This is delightful, Mr. Woodmouse!" he said heartily,--"this is really delightful! A brilliant occasion, indeed! But I do not see your son, the happy-- Ah! there he is. Prick-ear, you rascal, come here! Are you too proud to speak to your old friends?"
Thus adjured, the young woodmouse left his bride in her mother's care and came forward, looking half pleased and half angry. "Good evening, Coon!" he said. "I was not sure whether you _were_ a friend, after our last meeting. But I am very glad to see you, and I bear no malice."
And with this he shook paws with an air of magnanimity. Coon rubbed his nose, as he was apt to do when a little confused.
"Oh! ah! to be sure!" he said. "I had quite forgotten that little matter. But say no more about it, my boy; say no more about it! By-gones are by-gones, and we should think of nothing but pleasure on an occasion like the present." With a graceful and condescending wave of his paw he dismissed the past, and continued: "Pray, introduce me to your charming bride! I assure you I am positively longing to make her acquaintance. After you, my boy; after you!" and he crossed the room and joined the bridal party.
"What trouble did your son have with Coon?" Toto inquired of Mr. Woodmouse. "Nothing serious, I trust?"
"Why--ah!--well!" said his host, in some embarrassment, "it came _near_ being serious,--at least Prick-ear thought it did. It seems he met Mr. Coon one day last autumn, when he was bringing home a load of checkerberries for supper. Mr. Coon wanted the checkerberries, and--ah!--in point of fact, ate them; and when Prick-ear remonstrated, he chased him all round the forest, vowing that if he caught him he would--if you will excuse my mentioning such a thing--eat _him_ too. Now, that sort of thing is very painful, Mr. Toto; very painful indeed it is, I assure you, sir. And though Prick-ear escaped by running into a mole's burrow, I must confess that he has _not_ felt kindly toward Mr. Coon since then."