“There is no necessity for haste,” the lawyer assured her. “The purchaser of the boat does not want her until fall, and you may linger as long as you like on the trip.”
“Good!” exclaimed Agnes.
A family council was held the next day at which Mr. Howbridge laid all the facts before Mrs. MacCall. At first the Scotch housekeeper would not listen to any proposal for the trip on the water. But when Ruth and Agnes had spoken of the delights of the boat, and when the housekeeper had personally inspected the Bluebird, she changed her mind.
“Though I never thought, in my old age, I’d come to bein’ a houseboat keeper,” she chuckled. “But ’tis all in the day’s work. I’ll gang with ye ma lassies. A canal boat is certainly more staid than an ice-boat, and I went alang with ye on that.”
“Hurray!” cried Agnes, unable to restrain her joy. “All aboard for Lake Macopic!”
The door opened and Aunt Sarah Maltby came in.
“I thought I heard some one calling,” she said anxiously.
“It was Agnes,” explained Ruth. “She’s so excited about the trip.”
“Fish? What fish? It isn’t Friday, is it?” asked the old lady, who was getting rather deaf.
“No, Auntie dear, I didn’t say fish—I said trip.” And Ruth spoke more loudly. “We are going to make a trip on a houseboat for our summer vacation. Would you like to come along?”