"I don't care if they do. Come, Ruth."
Sue took Ruth's hand, and they went upstairs, while Julia ran home to find the kitten. By this time, Pierre had fallen asleep in the hammock.
"I guess, while the girls are gone, I'll go out and pick some huckleberries for supper, father is so fond of them," said Johnny; "and Katie says we haven't more than half enough. She wanted us all to pick some; but it was too warm after dinner, and I don't believe the girls will be back in time. It is getting cool now, because there is such a breeze."
"I'll bet there'll be a storm before long," replied Felix, looking at the sky. "But it's too stupid picking berries! Can't we do something else?"
"Perhaps you can, but I promised Katie," replied Johnny, going to the kitchen for a tin pail. As Felix did not want to be left alone, and could not think of any thing better to do, he followed Johnny to the huckleberry pasture behind the house, with a tin cup in his hand. "It is easier to pick in a cup than in a pail," he said.
"Why?" asked Johnny.
"Because it fills up sooner, and that is encouraging."
Pretty soon the boys saw Oliver harnessing the dog-cart; and, a little after, Julia came out into the pasture with a pail, saying she could not find the kitten, and she fully believed Jack had carried it off, whether Felix knew about it or not.
"He hasn't done any such thing!" returned Felix: "he couldn't have taken it without my seeing it, and I am positively certain he had no kitten with him when we went down the road."
The dog-cart was brought around to the door, and Sue and Ruth drove down to the row of cottages. When they reached the first cottage, Ruth got out, and inquired at the door if they would like to hire a nurse-girl. Sue drove to the pavilion, and then, having hitched the pony, joined Ruth in the tour of inquiry. In the whole row of cottages, they found only one where a girl was wanted: this was a neat yellow cottage with red blinds, which was set quite a way back from the beach. There were a number of children playing about the piazzas. They seemed fretful and quarrelsome; and when Ruth asked one of the little girls what her name was, she replied, "None of your business!" The lady of the house was a short, fleshy woman, with a good many rings on her fingers. She looked at Ruth coolly from head to foot, asking her a good many questions, especially in regard to her references.