“Thank goodness, they’re not like their father,” Mrs. Jennings commented. “Robert hadn’t any particular fault, but he never made anything.”
“He and his wife seem to have made a home that was a pretty good start for these children,” was what John Holt said.
“Well,” said Mrs. Jennings, “they’ve got to do the rest themselves. He left them nothing.”
“No other relations but you?” John Holt asked.
“Not a soul. I shall keep them and let them work on the farm, I suppose.”
“It would pay to educate them well and let them see the world,” said John Holt.
“I dare say it would pay them,” replied Aunt Matilda, “but I’ve got all I can do, and my husband’s family have a sort of claim on me. Half the farm belonged to him.”
They spent their remaining hours in the Agricultural Building very profitably. Mrs. Jennings found John Holt an excellent companion. He knew things very thoroughly, and had far-seeing ideas of how far things would work, and how much they would pay. He did not expect Mrs. Jennings to tell him fairy stories, and he told her none, but before they left the place they had talked a good deal. John Holt had found out all he wanted to know about the two children, and he had made a proposition which certainly gave Aunt Matilda something new to think of.
She was giving some thought to it when they went out to meet the party of four at the entrance. She looked as if she had been rather surprised by some occurrence, but she did not look displeased, and the glances she gave to Meg and Robin expressed a new sense of appreciation of their practical value.
“I’ve promised Mr. Holt that I’ll let him take me through the Midway Plaisance,” she said. “I’ve seen the things I came to see, and I may as well get my ticket’s worth.”