"I won't let myself," replied the little girl.
"Oh!" said Billy, his gray eyes deepening. "Well, let me have the evergreens and you go back for some more. It'll save me getting Ma hers."
With one thrust of her foot Lydia shoved the fragrant pile of boughs into the snow. She tied the brace of duck to the sled and started back toward the wood, then paused and looked back at Billy.
"Thank you a hundred times," she called.
"It was a business deal. No thanks needed," he replied.
Lydia nodded and trudged off. The boy stood for a moment looking at the little figure, then he started after her.
"Lydia, I'll get that load of pines for you."
She tossed a vivid smile over her shoulder. "You will not. It's a business deal."
And Billy turned back reluctantly toward the barn.
In an hour Lydia was panting up the steps into the kitchen. Lizzie's joy was even more extreme than Lydia's. She thawed the ducks out and dressed them, after dinner, with the two children standing so close as at times seriously to impede progress.