"It seems to me she needs a new frock," suggested the doctor.
"A blue one," Ruth agreed.
"Yes, that should be the color. Some day I'll take you down-town and we'll buy the stuff for one, then Miss Hester can help you make it."
Ruth looked at Miss Hester wistfully. "But she has to sew so much," she said, "though now I can wear Henrietta's clothes, there is not so much to do for me, and Billy's overcoat is all done, and it looks fine."
Miss Hester colored up a little and said: "Never mind about that, Ruth."
The doctor grumbled something about its being a crying shame to cheat a woman, and after that, he and Aunt Hester went into the living-room while Ruth and Billy washed the dishes, Hetty sitting well propped up on a chair watching them.
Once in a while the children caught the words, "old Petty" and "Squire Field," and knew that the two in the other room must be talking either about the lost receipt or the government claim.
"When we get back to the old house," said Ruth, as she washed the last plate, "we can have apple-butter every night for supper and the doctor can come and have all he wants, but I wish he had had his dinner to-day," she added.
"So do I," said Billy, with feeling.
"Oh, you dear beautiful love," Ruth turned to Hetty. "You are going to have a lovely new frock some day. Oh, Billy, don't you just love Dr. Peaslee?"