"Norm going to take you!" great wonderment in the tone. "Why, where
could he take you? I don't know, I am sure."
"He is to take me to the parsonage at eight o'clock to hear some
wonderful music on the organ. He has been invited, and has had
permission to bring me with him if he wants to. Don't you talk about
not putting yourself where other people will have to take care of you!
I advise you to cultivate the acquaintance of your brother. It isn't
everybody who gets invited to the parsonage to hear such music as Miss
Sherrill can make."
The dishcloth was hung away now, and every bit of work was done.
Nettie stood looking at the whittling boy in the doorway for a minute
in blank astonishment, then she clasped her hands and said: "O Jerry!
Did they do it? Aren't they the very splendidest people you ever knew
in your life?"
"They are pretty good," said Jerry, "that's a fact; they are most as
good as my father. I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, if you knew my
father you would know a man who would be worth remembering. I had a
letter from him last night, and he sent a message to my friend Nettie."
"What?" asked Nettie, her eyes very bright.
"It was that you were to take good care of his boy; for in his opinion
the boy was worth taking care of. On the strength of that I want you to
come out and look at Mother Speckle; she is in a very important frame
of mind, and has been scolding her children all the morning. I don't
know what is the trouble; there are two of her daughters who seem to
have gone astray in some way; at least she is very much displeased with
them. Twice she has boxed Fluffie's ears, and once she pulled a feather
out of poor Buff. Look at her, how forlorn she seems!"
By this time they were making their way to the little house where the
hen lived, Nettie agreeing to go for a very few minutes, declaring that
if Norm was going out every evening there was work to do. He would
need a clean collar and she must do it up; for mother had gone out to
iron for the day. "Mother is so grateful to Mrs. Smith for getting her
a chance to work," she said, as they paused before the two disgraced
chickens; "she says she would never have thought of it if it had not
been for her; you know she always used to sew. Why, how funny those
chickens look! Only see, Jerry, they are studying that eggshell as
though they thought they could make one. Now don't they look exactly as
though they were planning something?"
"They are," said Jerry. "They are planning going to housekeeping, I
believe; you see they have quarreled with their mother. They consider
that they have been unjustly punished, and I am in sympathy with
them; and they believe they could make a house to live in out of that
eggshell if they could only think of a way to stick it together again.
I wish _we_ could build a house out of eggshells; or even one room, and
we'd have one before the month was over."
"Why?" said Nettie, stooping down to see why Buff kept her foot under
her. "Do you want a room, Jerry?"
"Somewhat," said Jerry. "At least I see a number of things we could do
if we had a room, that I don't know how to do without one. Come over
here, Nettie, and sit down; leave those chickens to sulk it out, and
let us talk a little. I have a plan so large that there is no place to
put it."