“I really think you ought to stay at home this afternoon, Sophy,” interposed Honor. “You know Aunt Sophia is coming, and she will be disappointed if her namesake isn’t here to receive her.”
“I wish I hadn’t been named after her,” remarked Sophy, with an aggrieved air. “It’s an awful bother. When you’re named for people you always have to do things you don’t want to. Now there’s Peter can go to the woods this afternoon. He couldn’t if he was named for Aunt Sophia.”
“What a big goose you are!” said Peter. “As if a boy could have been named Sophia!”
“I wish you would do a little weeding before you go, Peter,” said Honor.
“And if you could only help me move some of the furniture in my new room,” added Katherine. “I can’t get it fixed to suit me at all, and it is so heavy. Can’t you, Peter?”
“Oh, goodness,” said Peter, “what a bother! I suppose I’ve got to move the furniture, but the weeding will have to wait. I tell you, I must go to the woods this afternoon. Hurry up, now, if you want me upstairs.” And he ran off himself two steps at a time.
Katherine was hard to please, and half an hour at least was consumed before the furniture was arranged to her satisfaction. Peter in consequence became more and more ill-tempered, and when she paused in the midst of her directions to tell him that his hands were not particularly clean and that his collar was frayed at the edge, he lost all patience.
“Who cares whether my hands are clean or not for moving your old furniture,” said he; “and if the collar is frayed at the edge, what made you put it in my drawer when it came out of the wash? It’s your own fault, and speaking of washing hands, I wash mine of this old sofa.”
And he departed, leaving the sofa in the middle of the room for Katherine to move alone as best she could.
Peter and Sirius took their way across the woody pasture beyond the barn and the garden. It was indeed good to be out of doors on such a day as this, and there was no knowing what of interest might be in store for them. Katherine’s criticisms were soon forgotten, and master and dog were happy in each other’s company and in the indefinable something which pervaded the atmosphere this afternoon of the first of May and which filled the hearts of both with a sense of elation.