Then she gave them, with all the burring of which her tongue was capable:
“Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass,
Whare are you gaun, my hinnie?
She answered me right saucilie,
An errand for my minnie.”
Coming down to earth again, Mrs. MacCall shot back into the pantry and from an open window in the rear that looked out in the orchard she called:
“Hi, Tess! Hi, Dot! Come ye here, and be for me the lassies that’ll gang to the store.”
“Are Tess and Dot there?” asked Ruth. “I’ve been wondering where they had disappeared to.”
“They be coming the noo,” answered Mrs. MacCall. “Laden in their arms wi’ all sorts of the trash.” And then she sang again:
“O fare thee well, my bonnie lass,
O fare thee well, my hinnie!
Thou art a gay an’ a bonnie lass,
But thou has a waukrife minnie.”
“What in the world is a ‘waukrife minnie’?” asked Agnes, but there was no chance to answer, for in the kitchen, making it more busy than ever, trooped the two younger members of the Corner House girls quartette—Tess and Dot.
Their arms were filled with blossoms of the woods and fields, and without more ado they tossed them to a cleared place on the table, whence Linda had removed some of the pans and dishes.
“Oh, what a lovely lot of flowers!” cried Ruth. “It’s just darling of you to get them for me. Now do you want to help me put them into vases in the library?”