Mr. Welch kept piling up his plate, with due appreciation of a boy’s appetite, till Benny felt that this was a land of plenty indeed, his only regret being that he could not share this feast with his mother and Kitty. Never in all his life had he eaten such a meal.
A little girl about Benny’s age sat opposite him; another, four or five years older, and a boy nearly grown made up the additional members of the family.
“Now, Jennie,” said Mrs. Welch to her younger daughter, as they rose from the table, “take Ben with you to feed the chickens; I’ll venture to say he won’t find a nicer lot anywhere.”
Jennie smiled an invitation over her shoulder, and Benny followed her into the poultry yard, where he saw chickens of all sizes, cunning yellow ducklings, and a flock of little turkeys. Then she took him to the barn and displayed to his delighted eyes some little collie puppies.
“How I should like to have one, that dear little fellow with a white spot on his forehead, for instance,” thought Benny; and Jennie, as if reading his thoughts, said:
“Now, if you only had a place where you could keep a dog, Joe would give you one of these, I know.”
It seemed as if the whole family were interested in the welfare of this little candidate for the office of strawberry picker, for Benny’s childish confidences were given honestly and freely.
He went to sleep that night in a small attic room; a tall locust tree hanging white blooms about the little dormer window, and the sound of a whippoorwill’s cry being his last conscious recollection before he went to sleep. He was awakened by stirring sounds out of doors and in, and by the time he was ready for a descent to the lower floor found that the family were up and all at work.
Breakfast was not less bountiful than supper, and after came a second visit to the puppies, during which time he was called in the store to confront Mr. Bentley.
It was evident that the way to a conference had been well paved by Mr. Welch, for Mr. Bentley’s greeting was, “Well, boy, you want to join my pickers, I hear.”