“Then you’re to be Gif’s guests?”
“I don’t know what it is, Martha. After that accident to Mr. Garrison he and Gif cooked up something between them, but Gif won’t open his mouth about it yet. He says it’s to be a surprise.”
“Well, surprises are very nice sometimes,” put in Ruth, who was present.
“How is your dad, Ruth?”
“Oh, he’s quite well now,” was the girl’s answer. “But he’s just as much worried as ever about those formulas. He has been trying very hard to get duplicates, but without success.”
“It ought not to be so very hard to get formulas for making artists’ material,” remarked Mary.
“That’s all you know about it,” answered Jack. “I was reading up on that subject some time ago. It seems some of the celebrated artists made their own pigments; and they were mighty secret about it, too, so that no one else could make exactly the same things. Why, some of the great pictures are great largely on account of the paints that were used in painting them.”
“In that case I certainly hope they get the formulas back,” said Martha.
The time soon came for the boys and girls to separate. Jack was sorry to part from Ruth and asked her if she would not write to him when she arrived at Valley Brook Farm.