"You boys may go out and look around the place until I do the dishes, and then we will see what I am to set you about."
This was so nearly a request for them to leave the kitchen, that they lost no time in obeying, and when they were in the open air Master Plummer said, with an air of perplexity:
"She's a mighty fine woman, an' all that kind of thing; but I'd like to know what she's hintin' at by leavin' them towels on the table; they was both there jest the same's last night, even though she must have known that we was washed up in great shape."
"I noticed 'em, but don't believe there's anything out of the way about it. She's kind of funny, an' perhaps that's one of her queer spots."
Aunt Dorcas's property was not extensive, as the boys learned after walking over it.
There was an orchard either side of the lane which led from the highway, and, in the rear of the house, an acre of ground, which had been cultivated at some time in the past.
The buildings consisted of the cottage itself, the wood-shed, a second shed which might once have been used as a carriage-house, and a small barn or stable.
By the time they had concluded their investigations, aunt Dorcas joined them, and said, with an odd smile on her withered face:
"It isn't much of a farm, as farms go nowadays, boys, but it's my home, and very dear to me. Mr. McArthur, one of the neighbours, cuts the grass in the orchards, and pays me a little something for it. I usually have a garden out here; but this year it was neglected, until now it seems too late for early vegetables."
"It wouldn't take us long to chuck in a pile of seeds, if that's all you want," and one to have seen Master Plummer, at that moment, would have believed him the most energetic of boys.