“We thought you’d be pleased, Verny. But what kept you so long?” said Julie.
“I found enough wood for a new hut, and then I sat down on a log and sketched a working plan for the sections of the building you propose erecting.
“You see this rocky wall that rises back of the old hut?” the Captain pointed to the lines she had drawn on the paper. “Well, we will use that for a back wall against which our new hut can brace itself. The wall of the old hut can supply one side of the new building, and we can extend the roof on the same lines as the old one, along over the new hut.”
“Oh, yes, that’s a fine idea!” cried Joan.
“And that will save us hauling the wood and building up one whole side, won’t it?” asked Betty.
“Yes, but it also makes a two-room house of the two huts, see?” and Mrs. Vernon displayed another plan she had drawn on paper.
“I think I like it better than having two separate huts, Verny,” said Julie.
“And we can use the wood we might have built into the one side of the hut for a shed for Hepsy. Can’t we go right on extending the house and build the lean-to to the end of the new hut, just as we plan hooking the new addition on to the old hut?” asked Joan.
The original way in which the description was worded caused a general laugh, but Joan never worried about laughter when it was in fun. She always said, “Well, if it gives any one any satisfaction to laugh at me, I’m glad to accommodate them so cheaply. It doesn’t hurt one.”
“Joan’s idea is good, and we will follow it as soon as we finish the frame of the new hut,” said Mrs. Vernon.