"It turned out that Mrs. Morrell was right. Miss Gibson's cold grew worse very fast, and before breakfast was over she was obliged to lie down on the sofa."
"'It is too bad that you should be disappointed, and Fanny too,' said good-natured Mrs. Morrell. 'I'll tell you what I'll do, Eunice.' (Miss Gibson's name was Eunice.) 'I will send Jake up to Bolt's Hill with the sled to bring Fanny down here to spend the day. She will enjoy that, and so shall I; for there is not a nicer girl than Fanny in the whole district.'"
"Jake set out on his errand with no good will. He was Mr. Morrell's nephew, and 'bound' to him; that is, he was to live in his uncle's house and work for him till he was grown-up; at which time he was to have a suit of clothes, a horse, and some other matters to start him in the world. Mr. Morrell had one son, who was in college studying to be a minister. Jake chose to feel himself very much injured that he could not go to college, too, though, as his aunt said, it was hard to tell what he would have done there, since he was the dunce of the village school, was always at the bottom of the spelling and parsing classes, and had never yet succeeded in learning the multiplication table. The only thing to which Jake really applied himself, and in which he showed any ingenuity, was in shirking work; and it seemed us if he sometimes took more pains to avoid work than would have been necessary to do it. In short, Jake was thoroughly and entirely lazy, and being so, he was almost, as a matter of course, thoroughly selfish and very much given to lying."
"Jake had finished his chores before breakfast, for a wonder, and he felt very virtuous in consequence, and very much disposed to spend the rest of the day in lounging in the chimney-corner. It was therefore with no good will that he found himself required to go up to Bolt's Hill and drag Fanny down to his aunt's."
"'I don't believe she will come,' said he, sulkily, 'and, besides, I don't see why I am to be bothered with her. However, I suppose I can go.'"
"I suppose you can, and pretty quick, too!' returned Mrs. Morrell, sharply."
"Jake knew by experience that to quarrel with his aunt was no way to secure his dearly beloved ease, and that he must at least pretend to obey her. But he had no sort of notion of going clear up to Bolt's Hill. He took his sled and went out, indeed, but only as far as the grocery at the corner by the blacksmiths shop, where he lounged away a couple of hours enjoying the society of two or three village loafers. Then he returned home."
"'Where is Fanny?' asked his aunt, meeting him at the door."
"Oh, I met Captain Bolt just up at the corner, and he had Fanny with him. They were coming round this way to tell Miss Gibson that she need not come up, because they were all going to Rockville for the day.'"
"'So you see, Eunice, it was well you did not go up there,' said Mrs. Morrell. 'It is queer too—not a bit like the Bolts.'"