Jacob an' me'll
go out an' take a look at the stock,' says he, 'and come back when
you're feelin' calmer.' An' he nods to me, an' out we both goes, before
Sary could git her breath agin. I didn't say nothin', 'cause I was
laughin' so inside 't I couldn't. Abner, he walked along kind o' solemn,
shakin' his head every little while, an' openin' an' shettin' his mouth.
When we got to the stable-door he looked at me a minute, and then he
said, 'The tongue is a onruly member, Jacob! I _thought_ that was kind
of a curus lookin' basket, though!' and that was every word he said
about it."
"Oh, what delightfully funny people!" cried Hilda. "What did the wife
say when you came in to supper, Farmer Hartley?"
"She warn't thar," replied the farmer. "She had a headache, the gals
said, and had gone to bed. I sh'd think she _would_ have had a
headache,--but thar," he added, rising suddenly and beginning to search
in his capacious pockets, "I declar' for 't, if I hain't forgotten
Huldy's letter! Sary an' her bunnit put everything else out of my head."
Hilda sprang up in delight to receive the envelope which the farmer
handed to her; but her face fell a little when she saw that it was not
from her parents. She reflected, however, that she had had a double
letter only two days before, and that she could not expect another for a
week, as Mr. and Mrs. Graham wrote always with military punctuality.
There was no doubt as to the authorship of the letter.
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