"I had forgotten that," said Belinda, "but Jemima reminded me this morning
of the day that pa lost his spectacles. Every one in the house hunted for
those glasses, and at last Jemima ran out into the door-yard, and there
was little Hi with the spectacles on his nose, a peering into the rain
water barrel and holding onto those specs to keep them from tumbling off
into the water. He said that pa said there were critters in any water, and
as he couldn't see 'em he ran off with the glasses to see if they would
help him. He tied our old Tom to the mouse trap because he said that he
wanted the cat to be on hand when the mice ran in. He carried a squash pie
out to the brindle cow because he thought she must be tired of eating
nothing but grass, and if he and Grandma Babson have got to spend three
months under the same roof, I b'lieve he'll drive her crazy, for she
hates boys and don't mind saying so, and he can think of more mischief in
one day than any other child could in a week."
Both girls laughed as they thought of little Hi's pranks and Randy said,
with a bright twinkle in her eyes,
"At least, you and Jemima will be amused this winter."
"I guess we shall be in more ways than one," assented Belinda, "for I'm
pretty sure that Grandma Babson and that small boy will be enemies from
the start."
Belinda's habitually jolly face wore such a comical look of anxiety that
Randy refrained from laughing, and to change the subject asked for a
schoolmate whom she had not recently seen. "Where is Molly Wilson?" she
questioned.
"Oh, Molly is so hard at work now it's only once in a while that I see
her. Her baby sister is ill, and Molly has no time for anything but
helping around home. Her mother says that she intends to have her go back
to school if she can spare her, but whatever do you suppose Molly meant?
"She said to me, 'Belinda, even if mother can spare me, I may not go to
school. You can't think how anxious I am to be at work at my lessons
again, but I'm afraid I shan't look fit and father's had such a hard
summer, the farm hasn't paid for working it, he says, that I couldn't ask
him for anything for myself if I never had it.'
"And oh, I never thought, Randy, I promised Molly I would not tell what
she said. I didn't mean to. Whatever made me forget?"
"Never mind," said Randy, an odd little smile showing the dimples at the
corners of her mouth.
"I will not tell a single girl you may be very sure, but you and I who
know it will be extra kind to Molly."
"Indeed we will," assented Belinda. "I'll go over this afternoon and see
if I can help her. The baby is a sweet little thing and she likes me, so
perhaps I shall be some help. Oh, there's Jemima calling at the bars, I
guess ma wants me. My! I wonder if some of our company has arrived?
"Remember not to tell what I told you," cried Belinda to Randy, who stood
looking after her friend, as she ran across the pasture to join Jemima.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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