"Well, what about the shop?" he asked anxiously.
"Oh, father! we've taken it!" and Bella gasped, as though alarmed at the desperateness of the plunge they had taken. "I forgot everything else when I saw you, but oh, there's such a lot to tell. Tom, where shall we begin? You tell it all, will you?"
"I—I seem to have so much in my head I can't get anything out," laughed Tom.
"We'll wait till we get home, then, p'raps it wouldn't be fair to hear it all before Aunt Emma can. Charlie will be home, too, by the time we are. He's been with the donkey-cart to take one of his pigs to Mr. Davis, and he has taken a message about renting the little field. The rent is low, and we could keep the horse there, and the pigs, too, sometimes. It would be fine!"
Bella laughed. "If we've got a field we shan't rest till one of us has a cow to put in it, that's certain!"
"Well, I don't know but what 'twould be a good investment," her father answered, thoughtfully; "there's no getting milk enough anywhere hereabouts."
Bella laughed again. "I can see that cow already," she cried, "a nice little Guernsey, and Aunt Emma milking it. Why, there is Aunt Emma herself! Whatever is she doing? Nursing a chick?"
They had reached their own gate by that time. "I wonder what she'll say when she sees me?" chuckled their father.
"Doesn't she know?" cried Bella. "Oh, Aunt Emma, Aunt Emma!" she called.
"Aunt Emma!" shouted Tom, at the top of his voice. "Quick, come here!"