She watched the men as they climbed on deck and then she turned back to the cheerful cottage and her work.
“What brave men these fishermen are!” said Mrs. Seymour. “And they don’t seem to realize it, particularly. It is all in the day’s work. Think of Jo’s walking five miles through heavy snow to bring help!”
Ann nodded. In her enthusiasm she stopped sweeping and leaned on her broom while she talked. “I’d like to have been here with them. Mother, I think I’d have found something on that boat!”
Her mother laughed. “Perhaps. You surely would have seen if anything had been there. But Mr. Bailey’s eyes are keen, too.”
“Y-e-s,” admitted Ann. “Aren’t he and Jo nice people! It is much more exciting here than going to school and walking across the Common. Don’t you think that I could stay here next winter and not go back to town?”
Her mother laughed again. “It is rather early to talk of next winter. School is a bit more important than adventures for you until you are a few years older.”
“I know that you are right,” Ann apologized. “Only I think that I will study to be a farmer.”
“Very well,” agreed her mother. “But don’t grow up too fast, my darling Ann. Promise me you won’t.”
Ann’s broom began to work fast. “If I have to grow up,” Ann said, as she swept under tables and chairs, “you can be sure that I am not going to sit around playing bridge with a lot of dressed-up people. No! I’m going to wear overalls and buy a ranch. I might take Jo in as a partner, but I haven’t decided on that yet, and I haven’t asked him.”