"What is your idea of going there?" she asked in surprise.
"I've got some business that I'd rather not explain till I get back."
"There's nothing to prevent, my child, and I can trust you not to do anything wrong."
"I should hope you could," Jack replied emphatically. "You shall know all about it when I come home."
"Don't try to walk too fast, but return as soon as your business is finished."
Jack promised to do so, and was hurrying up the lane when the little woman stopped him with these words:—
"I wish you would call at Daniel Chick's and tell him what has happened. It will be necessary to bury poor old crumple-horn, and he must attend to it."
"I'll ask him to come over right away"; and Jack resumed his journey, wondering whether he was on the point of doing that for which Aunt Nancy would censure him.
"It doesn't make any difference whether she does or not," he said to himself. "If I told her she wouldn't let me go, so this is the only way to fix it."