"Oh, no, dear!"
There was an affectionate kiss between the two sisters, and then Hatty, after hanging up her school hat and sack, laid some fresh sticks into the stove, filled the tea-kettle, and put some potatoes already washed into the oven to bake. Then she proceeded to lay on a cloth very coarse, but white as snow; and to set out the common plates they used, her tongue running merrily all the while.
"Oh, Esther! I wish you could see Montworth Falls. The water foams, and dashes, and sparkles so beautifully, I stood a moment to look at it; and then I had to run to catch the girls."
Esther smiled; a patient, calm face hers was, almost always lighted with that trusting, placid smile.
"I can see it," she answered, "almost as well as if I were there. You are my eyes, you know."
"Oh, sister!" Hatty went on, after bringing from the cellar a dish of cold meat and a plate of large cucumber pickles, "the girls are going nutting. Do you suppose I could go? Ethel Frost says chestnuts and shagbarks are ever so thick. There's one reason, specially, why I want to go to-day."
Esther quite laughed this time.
"You know I tell you everything," Hatty went on, her face growing a little anxious. "Sallie Munson is in trouble. I want to make her feel better; and I guess I can."
"Well, my dear peace-maker, you can go as well as not. You know uncle Oliver likes nuts in winter. They remind him of old times. You'd better carry them up stairs and dry them, and then give him a pleasant surprise."
"So I will!"