Mother answered, “Yes, real little bush girls,” and then they laughed outright, because they knew what he meant.
Oh! all the talk there was at “Gillong” that night! Long after the children had gone to bed the two brothers sat out on the verandah and talked of many things, while the kindly moonlight cast a glamour over the parched, dried earth, making the white road gleam like a silver band.
It wasn’t until the second day that they had a chance of a confidential talk with Uncle, and then they had a meeting at the usual meeting-ground—the old gum tree, and sat round, solemn and important looking.
“Well, children, we had better discuss this proposition of a loan.”
The children looked more important and solemn than ever.
“Oh, yes!” said Mollie, anxiously; “of course, we don’t know much about money, and all that, but we do know that we want it badly.”
“And about how many hundreds do you think you will require?” Uncle was enjoying the meeting immensely.
“Oh, dear! we don’t know—do we, Mollie?” asked Eileen, anxiously. “You see, we don’t know much about it.”
“You see,” put in Mollie, eagerly; “Mother and Father and Frank have to work so hard, and have so much worry, and we’re always having such bad luck, and we thought if we only had more money things would be ever so much easier——”
“Yes, money can oil the wheels,” agreed Uncle.