Julie said nothing. Her chin was very rigid but in a few moments she said cheerfully, “I think the spring promises a good deal. Our work increases every day and we can soon begin to live better. Bridget says marketing is much cheaper in the summer, and if we only make enough now to carry Daddy comfortably through the dull season when people are away and we are not earning much, we’ll get on famously. Just think what magnificent times we’ll have this summer just loafing around Daddy’s room!”
Hester, who seldom allowed herself such luxury of woe as she had just been indulging in, sat up, wiped her eyes on the corner of the sheet and said emphatically, “I’m a fiend and I ought to be cow-hided!”
“I’ll paddle you instead,” said Julie, picking up the hair-brush Hester had dropped and making as if to apply the back of it vigorously.
Hester dodged but Julie caught her and, springing out of bed, planted her firmly in a chair and said, “I’ll brush that crazy head of yours and help you to bed or you’ll never get there! It must be all hours of the night.”
“You’ll catch your death of cold,” remonstrated Hester.
“I won’t, and if you’ll keep as still as a mouse and not scream when I comb your hair—”
“You pull like the dickens; you know you do!”
“I do not and I wish you’d stop talking and give me a chance. I declare you get worse every day—I tremble to think what you’re coming to!—and I’ve, oh! such a piece of news to tell you!”
She was wholly unprepared for the clutch of Hester’s arms about her neck as she cried, “Don’t tell me to-night, Julie dear, I—I know—all—about—it!”
“Do you?” holding her fast. “Then aren’t you glad it has all come out this way?”