“I want to go to the little brown house,” Phronsie wailed steadily on.
“Well, that’s where you’re goin’,” said the farmer. He turned suddenly. “That’s jest where we’re a-takin’ you to, the Brown house.”
“Are you?” cried Phronsie, her wails stopping suddenly.
“Sure,” said Mr. Brown decidedly. “Now, Ma, we’ll take her home with us. We’ll inquire all along th’ road ef anybody knows who she is,” he said in a low voice over Phronsie’s head. “She’ll be all right when she sees them pigs an’ chickens.”
“An’ ef we can’t find where she b’longs, why, we’ll adopt her, an’ she’ll be ours,” finished his wife, all in a tremble. “Oh, you sweet lamb, you!” She kissed Phronsie’s yellow head.
Phronsie, quite contented now that she was on the way to the little brown house where Polly was and Mamsie would soon come, presently began to hum in a happy little voice, and the old white horse and big high wagon went jogging on over a short cross-road leading to Maybury, where the farmer and his good wife lived.
Meantime Polly and Davie were having a perfectly dreadful time searching everywhere, even turning an old barrel, afraid that Phronsie had pulled it over on herself, and scouring every inch of the ground around the little brown house. Then Davie dashed off at top speed, down over the lane leading to Grandma Bascom’s, sure of finding Phronsie there.
But Grandma, feeding her hens from a tin pan of potato and apple parings, shook her cap hard when Davie stood on his tiptoes and screamed into her ear all about Phronsie.
“Oh, the pretty creeter!” she mourned, and the pan in her hands shook so that it fell to the ground, and the hens clattered around and scratched and fought till every bit of the potato and apple skins was gobbled up.
Davie rushed off from the tangle of hens about Grandma’s feet, with only one thought—to get to Deacon Blodgett’s as fast as he could. And flying down the lane, he ran into the main road, just after the old white horse and big high wagon had turned the corner leading to Maybury, carrying Phronsie off to the Brown house.