Katy looked reproachfully at Jane, but Mrs. Halford understood.
“I told you Chicken Little wouldn’t give you Pete when you teased him. I am glad you gave him to Pat, dear. He is a kind boy and the parrot will mean far more to him than to my little spoiled girls.”
“Here comes the expressman for the trunks,” said Dr. Morton. “You had better get your things on, Mother, the bus will soon be here.”
Chicken Little danced up and down as the big yellow omnibus backed up to the front gate and Dick Harding swung off the top, where he had been sitting beside the driver.
“How many passengers for Kansas?” he demanded.
“We’re all going as far as the station if there’s room,” Mrs. Halford replied.
It was a merry group that gathered outside the car window. But tears were close to the smiles, for Marian was leaving father and mother and Mrs. Morton looked forward with anxiety to the new country and the new home.
Chicken Little felt blissfully important. Dick Harding had brought her a box of chocolate creams and gum drops to match Pat’s bag of plums. She waved one in each hand as the train pulled out.
“Good-by, Mr. Harding. Good-by, Katy. Good-by, Gertie.”
“Good-by, Chicken Little.”