"Well, but as you cannot go yourself, you will not want your pretty little basket; will you lend it to us to hold our cherries?"
"Yes, I will with pleasure," cried Owen, jumping up to fetch it:
"Now he is good-natured, I am sure," said Marianne.
"This plaiting of yours is not nearly so well done as ours," said Cymon, "look how uneven it is."
"Yes, it is rather uneven, indeed," replied Owen.
Cymon began to untwist some of Owen's work; and Owen bore this trial of his patience with good temper.
"Oh, you are pulling it all to pieces, Cymon," said Marianne; "this is not fair."
"Yes, it is fair," said Cymon; "for I have undone only an inch; and I will do as many inches for Owen as he pleases, now that I see he is good-humoured."
Marianne immediately sat down to work for Owen; and Cymon and all his companions followed her example—It was now two hours before the time when the cherry-orchard was to be opened; and during these two hours, they went on so expeditiously, that they completed the work.
Owen went with them to the cherry-orchard, where they spent the evening all together very happily—As he was sitting under a tree with his companions eating the ripe cherries, he said to them,—"Thank you all, for helping me; I should not have been here now eating these ripe cherries, if you had not been so good-natured to me—I hope I shall never be cross to any of you again, whenever I feel inclined to be cross, I will think of your good-nature to me, and of THE CHERRY-ORCHARD."