CHAPTER IX PLANS
“Now,” Maida announced at breakfast a week later, “we’ve had all the vacation we’re going to get—at least all that the Big Six get. To-morrow begins our work. Father said we could plan it ourselves how it was to be done and unless our plans were bad ones, we could keep right on with them. Now I propose that, right after breakfast, you boys go to the barn and make a program of your work. We girls will stay here and make a program for ourselves. You remember what it is you’re expected to do?” Notwithstanding protests that they remembered everything, she recited briefly again to the boys the list of their duties.
After breakfast, as directed, the Big Six divided. The boys proceeded to the barn. The girls settled themselves in the big, comfortable living-room, began to discuss the work that they were to do. Rosie, in some inexplicable way, soon took control; was handling the situation in the practical, efficient way that was typical of her.
“Do you know how to make a bed, Maida?” she asked.
“No,” Maida answered dolefully, “I never made one in my life. It looks easy though.”
“It’s easy to make a bed badly,” Rosie said with emphasis. “How about you Laura?”
“Well,” Laura replied slowly, “I have made one.”