“Give the youngster time, Madam Housekeeper! His hens are going to come out all right; aren’t they, ‘Humpty-Dump’?”
“Course. Belle doesn’t know, does she?”
“Belle never kept any hens, did she? and Robert did!” returned Bonny, gayly. Whatever the others might think, she never lost faith in either brother.
“But will it not cost a great deal to begin the business, much more than we ought to spare at present?” asked Mrs. Beckwith.
“No, I think not. Mr. Brook suggests that I use my own earnings for the purpose, if you will allow me. He is confident I shall get back more than a fair interest upon the investment. You see, he isn’t telling anything he has not already verified. He’s a wonderful man, is Mr Brook!” responded Beatrice, falling into a reverie, which lasted so long that Roland interrupted.
“We’ve all acknowledged that long since. What now has roused your admiration?”
“Why, everything he thinks will be a help to somebody he experiments with himself first. It was so with bee-keeping. There was a crippled man with a delicate wife and lots of children, in whom our patron was interested. The man was hurt in a railway accident, or something like that, and could never afterward do any hard work. Mr. Brook’s study of bees and their habits made him think that an apiary would be just the thing for this family, who had a bit of a place a few miles from here, the same place he wishes me to visit to-morrow. So he tried the thing himself, and demonstrated that it was a paying thing; then he handed his bee outfit over to those people, and they are now living very comfortably, besides being able to educate their children.”
“Just from bees?”
“Just from bees. And it is not a business so overstocked that others need fear to enter it. If Mother is willing, I shall be so glad to try it.”
“It will need a great deal of patience, and you will get terribly stung.”