“Oh, I don’t know; lots of things,” replied Joanne suddenly diffident. She ran off returning with the permission she asked, and joined her cousin in front of Mr. Clover’s house where the automobile stood.
When they reached the site of the fire Mr. Pattison looked over the charred circle where gaunt, blackened stumps stretched leafless arms toward the sky, and turning to his uncle he said: “That was a pretty close call. If the fire had gone beyond this grove of trees there is no knowing where it would have stopped.” Then he looked down at Joanne. “See here, Pickings,” he continued; “I want you to know that the freedom of this place is yours so long as I shall own it; the boys can have a free foot here, too. I give you the keys of the city, metaphorically speaking. There will not be any ‘no trespassing’ signs put up for you all. You can gather anything you want, berries, nuts, flowers, anything that grows on the property, even to a part of my share of the crops. How’s that, Clover?”
He looked at Mr. Clover who nodded in response. “I reckon they’re welcome to whatever they want to take, Mr. Pattison. I won’t get out my shotgun even if I see them in my watermelon patch. They’re mighty good neighbors to have, Mr. Pattison, mighty good neighbors. I’d like ’em here the year round.”
Half-way back a punctured tire delayed them, so Joanne and her grandfather decided to walk on leaving Mr. Clover and Mr. Pattison to remedy matters on the car.
“Don’t you think I look well, Grad?” inquired Joanne as they set out on their walk.
“You look fine. How about the headaches?”
“I’ve had only one little one, and that was the day we went blackberrying and did some canning afterward. I think it was the hot sun that did it, but it didn’t last long. I got so interested in the canning, you see, that I forgot about the headache.”
Her grandfather smiled. “That does happen sometimes, but I wouldn’t defy the sun too often.”
“Oh, no, I don’t; Miss Dodge sees to that. Don’t you like her and isn’t Miss Chesney a dear? The girls are dears, too. I never knew how nice girls could be, nor boys either, for that matter. We have had such good times together and I have come to know them all so well. It is such a comfort to have real intimate friends like Winnie and Claudia; I never had any before, you know. I have learned such a lot from them,” she added reflectively.
“I appreciate all that,” returned Dr. Selden. “It hasn’t seemed possible under the circumstances, to give you these opportunities before, but certainly we are on the right track now. It was a great day when we met Mrs. Marriott, wasn’t it?”