“There wasn’t one chance in a thousand,” he added, “and I wouldn’t have caught him then, if I hadn’t had the milk.”
“What were you doing with milk?” asked Eunice, suspiciously.
Franklin did not answer, and looked so uncomfortable that Mrs. Wood changed the subject; for she made a point of never asking one of her children embarrassing questions before the others, and this was one reason why they loved her so much.
After supper there came a loud thump at the side door, and Franklin, who was studying in the parlor, heard a delighted shout from Kenneth. Then Eunice came running in with a smile, and taking Franklin by the hand, said, “I’ve got something for you, to make up for your feeling so bad about Stamper.”
“But Stamper’s come home,” he said, giving her a rough little hug. “And I can’t take any present from you now, Sis, so run away, and let me get my algebra.”
“I told her I thought you wouldn’t care to,” said Mrs. Wood, looking relieved. “But she said that she’d feel very badly if you didn’t take them.” She was so glad that Franklin felt he did not deserve them, although of course she could not know yet just how much he didn’t. “They” were on the dining-room table, sitting in Eunice’s hat,—the most beautiful little pair of maltese rabbits that Franklin had ever seen. And all his life long he had wanted a maltese rabbit!
“Those didn’t come from the bird store, I know,” he burst out in delight, quite forgetting that he was not to keep them.
“They came from the farm of the father of a boy who works at Taylor’s,” said Mrs. Wood, laughing. “The bird-store rabbits were no good.”
“Oh, those bird-store rabbits are enough to give a hand-organ sore throat! You’re just a brick, Mother, and so is Eunice, but I can’t take these little fellows, really. Eunice must keep them herself.”
“Eunice will feel badly if you don’t take them,” said Mrs. Wood again.