She also looked at Letty without seeming to, and then turned and said something to grandmother in a low tone.
“This,” said grandfather, getting out of the phaeton and going to the side of the pony carriage, “this is Miss Letty Grey, who knows all about the ponies.”
“And isn’t the carriage great!” exclaimed Christopher, who could not keep still another instant. “I thought Letty would have to drive her chariot, and wouldn’t that have made a hullabaloo going through town! But Mr. Drake had this carriage that Letty used to use in the parade before they got the chariot. This is the one Letty used at Willow Grove.”
Mrs. Hartwell-Jones continued to look at the ponies, evidently thinking deeply. Jane sat, still and eager, watching Mrs. Hartwell-Jones with bright eyes. How she hoped she would buy the ponies, dear little Punch and Judy. Presently she slipped out of the carriage and mounted the veranda steps.
“They are so nice!” she whispered, tucking her hand into her grandmother’s. “And Letty drove them because she wanted to see you, Mrs. Hartwell-Jones. She wanted to see you because you write books.”
“Would you mind driving them up or down once or twice?” she asked Letty, who had been fidgeting the reins, overcome with shyness.
Grandfather had gone with Joshua and Mr. Drake to the farmyard, for the purpose of examining the other horses. Joshua was celebrated all over the countryside for his knowledge of horses.
“What a nice face that child has!” exclaimed Mrs. Hartwell-Jones to grandmother as Letty guided the ponies at a slow trot around the drive, Christopher still perched on the rumble. “Is she the little girl you spoke to me about?”
“Yes,” replied grandmother. “She does not look like a circus girl, does she?”
“She doesn’t want to be a circus girl any more,” spoke up Jane. “She wants to find some work to do. She hasn’t any home. She wants to work. And I told her,” she added importantly, “that I’d speak to you, grandmother, to ask if you knew of anybody who needed a maid.”