“Ted,” said Katie, from her little bed in the dimly lighted nursery,
“this time to-morrow night, we’ll be at Poplar Grove.”
Ted and Katie did not reach their papa’s plantation until very late the
following day, and were so tired from their journey that they went
straight to bed. The next morning, they crept down stairs to see if
their pony had grown any, and if Dash, the big Newfoundland, would know
them.
After breakfast, Mrs. Barton let Ted and Katie go to see Dame Truman, a
nice old woman who had taken care of Mrs. Barton when she was a baby.
When they got to the cottage, they softly pushed open the door, and
peeped in.
“Law, if it ain’t my blessed chicks, come to see their old Granny,”
cried Dame Truman, hugging and kissing them.
“Now, my little dears,” said she, “I’ve got something pretty to show
you.”
Taking up a pan of dough, she went to the door, and scattered some of it
on the ground.
“Quack, quack, quack,” was heard, and up waddled an old duck with four
young ones.
They looked just like balls of yellow worsted, and Katie wanted to take
up one of the soft little things, only she felt afraid of the old
mother. They were overjoyed when Dame Truman said that the little ducks
were for them.
“I shall call mine Cowslip and Buttercup,” said Katie, “they are so
yellow.”
“I’ll name mine Napoleon and Wellington,” answered Ted, “and I know
they’ll be good fighters.”
[Illustration: FEEDING THE DUCKS.]