Jinny quite appreciated that. “I thought he wouldn’t let me call for his box,” she said quietly.
“No, the pig-headed mule! He’s going to carry it himself.”
“In what? It’s not easy to get anything but me.”
“He knows that. That’s why he’s carrying it. On his shoulders, I mean.”
“With his arm just healed!”
“There won’t be much inside—he’s going to buy his things in London!”
“But the box itself—why, it’s big enough to pack himself in!”
“I know, I know, dearie. But Caleb says he carried it himself all the way from Chipstone. And chock-full, too!”
Jinny suppressed a faint smile. “I remember,” she said. “But perhaps he’ll break down before he gets it to Chipstone,” she added encouragingly.
“Oh, do you think so, dearie?” Then Martha’s face fell. “But he only means to carry it to ‘The King of Prussia.’ There’s a commercial traveller going from there in a trap to catch the same coach.”