“Oh, no, dearie, I’ll be all right in a day or so,” answered Mrs. Pry. “This hot iron will help a lot. Then if I had some of my liniment to rub on my back, I’d feel better.”
“Shall I get Bert to go to the drug store after the liniment?” asked Nan.
“You won’t need to do that, dearie,” answered Mrs. Pry. “I have some of the stuff in a bottle in my valise. If you’ll hand it to me I’ll rub it on my back, and then I’ll go to sleep awhile. I didn’t sleep much all night. But I fell asleep toward morning, and I slept so hard I didn’t wake up in time to call you to go to school.”
“Well, there isn’t any school, so that didn’t matter,” Nan said.
She found the bottle of queer-smelling liniment in the old lady’s valise, and gave it to her. Then Nan said:
“Well, I’ll go down now and wash the dishes.”
“What’s that?” exclaimed Mrs. Pry. “You say Bert is going out and try to catch some fishes? Land sakes, child! he never can catch any fishes in this snow storm! Don’t let him go! Besides, I don’t like fish, anyhow!”
“I didn’t say anything about fishes!” replied Nan in louder tones. “I said I was going to wash the dishes!”
“Oh! Dishes!” murmured Mrs. Pry. “Well, my hearing isn’t what it once was. But I surely thought you said fishes.”
Holding back her merriment, Nan went downstairs. Flossie and Freddie were so filled with joy over their plan of going up in the attic and playing they were on a picnic in the woods that they had become very good and quiet indeed, making no trouble for Bert, who had “picked up” the dishes, ready for washing.