“We really don’t need you a mite,” Peggy assured, with a laugh. “But I’d hate to disappoint such industry. Come here and stir this milk gravy so it won’t burn.”
Amy moved to her post of duty without any unbecoming alacrity.
“I’m not industrious,” she retorted. “And I don’t want to be. I intend to work when you girls make me and that’s all. This is my vacation and I’m going to use it recuperating.”
“I really can’t see the need myself,” Claire whispered to Priscilla, but Priscilla did not return her smile. Amy’s plumpness was a joke which Amy enjoyed as well as anybody, but Claire’s covered whisper seemed to put another face on it. Priscilla bent over a loaf of bread on the board and sliced away with an impassive face.
“And that reminds me,” continued Amy cheerfully, “that I feel like re-naming this cottage for the season. Mrs. Leighton wouldn’t care what we called it.”
“Why, I think Sweet Briar Cottage is a beautiful name,” Claire protested.
“I think so, too. But it’s too dressy to suit my ideas. I’m sure I never could live up to it. Say, girls, I move we call it Dolittle Cottage.”
And, in spite of Claire’s manifest disapproval, the motion was carried.