Family -- Juvenile fiction; Fathers -- Death -- Juvenile fiction; Financial security -- Juvenile fiction
"Jenny Lind cake," quite good enough for anyone--provided it is eaten
very fresh--may be made with one egg. Oswyth beat up two of these
cakes, and into one stirred juicy blueberries, while the other she
baked in jelly-tins, and iced and filled with caramel filling.
Rob and Prue carried out the table and set it on the lawn. The little
grey house was well filled with old blue and white china, odds and
ends of pink and white also, queer, dainty sprigged cups and saucers,
and rare old pewter which it was Oswyth's joy to keep bright. So the
table when decked looked really beautiful, and the girls surveyed it
with pride, knowing that more sumptuous suppers than theirs there might
be, but few more attractive, and they trusted to their own gayety to
secure it one of the jolliest. Frances Silsby came down early. She was
Oswyth's and Rob's--more particularly Rob's--one intimate friend; the
Grey girls were too sufficient to themselves to need outsiders. She
found them hurrying over their dressing, having scrambled the dinner
dishes away, for the laborers were sure to arrive early.
The gowns the girls wore were not only simple in themselves, but had
done good service and showed in many places their mother's artistic
darning. But they were becoming lawns, and when the laughing young
faces came up through their fresh ruffles, and the soft, gathered
waists settled around the young figures, Oswyth was as sweet in her
pale blue, Roberta as brilliant in her rose pink, and Prue as pretty in
her snowy white as new gowns could have made them--and, fortunately,
were quite as happy.
The strains of the anvil-chorus floated down the street before Rob and
Prue were ready--Oswyth managed always to be ready--and the clash of
anvils was marked by the click of scythes. Looking out, the girls saw
the Rutherfords, three abreast, as usual, implements over shoulders and
flashing in the sunshine, bearing down on the little grey house.
"Oh, hurry, Rob; give me my stick-pin, Wythie--they're coming!" cried
Prue.
"Don't wear your stick-pin, Prue; you're sure to lose it out of that
thin stuff. Take my bow-knot-pin," said Wythie, proffering it.
"Oh, that old-fashioned thing! Well, I suppose boys won't know--I'll
take it, Wythie. Ready, Rob?" cried Prue.
"Would be if my shoe-lacing hadn't come untied, and I stepped on it and
broke it. I wouldn't dare tell anyone what I thought of shoe-lacings!"
cried Rob, trying to tie the broken string with fingers that quivered
with impatience.
"Let me, Rob; you're too crazy," said Frances, kneeling before her
friend.
Rob resigned herself with a sigh. "Blessings on thee, little Fan," she
said. "Please go down, Wythie and Prue. Tell the boys we'll be there
just as soon as we finish singing 'Blest be the tie that binds.'"
Wythie and Prue departed laughing, and Rob and Frances followed very
soon.
"Where shall we begin?" asked Bruce, after greetings were over.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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