"But mamma, how can she go? And Tom?"
"All arranged for. You shall behold at half-past eleven," said Walter.
"I believe Nellie is in the secret," said Ada a little jealously.
"Nellie is always in all my secrets," said Walter, smiling at her.
Nellie blushed with pleasure; but she only said, "But mamma is in the secret too."
"Of course," said Isabel; "nothing could be done without mamma."
Before half-past eleven the children were all assembled; and five minutes before that time, six donkeys came up and took their stand near the door.
The children counted and counted, but could not make out how six would be enough to "go round." Walter was lying under a tree in the orchard, and all he did was to laugh at all their questions and leave them unanswered.
Still, he kept his eye on them all, and when an open carriage drove up, he leapt from the ground and hurried across the road.
"Nellie is going to condescend to a donkey," he said, laughing, "and so I shall choose the best for her."