"He has some project. What can it be?" soliloquized Ellen, looking after him.
Joe, unconscious of her gaze, was bending over the little blue flowers, and humming an air which the children had learned a few days before.
"That tune is so catchy I can't get it out of my mind," he remarked to
Will.
Suddenly Ellen started up. "I know!" she said to herself. Then for a time she was silent, flitting to and fro with a smile upon her lips, her thoughts as busy as her fingers. "Ha, Master Joe! I believe we'll all try that plan!" she exclaimed at length, laughing at the idea of the surprise in store for him. Presently she glanced toward Teresa and Elsie, who were loitering under a tree, talking in a low tone. Ellen laughed again. "Those two children are always having secrets about nothing at all," mused she.
Ellen was a lively girl, and greatly enjoyed a joke. After a while, when she discovered Elsie alone, she whispered something to her. The little girl's brown eyes grew round with interest. She nodded once or twice, murmuring, "Yes, yes!"
"And you must not breathe a word of it to anybody—not even to Teresa!" said Ellen.
"Oh, no!" said Elsie, quite flattered that such a big girl should confide in her.
Then—ah, merry Ellen!—did she not go herself and tell Teresa, charging her also not to reveal it? Later she took occasion to say a word to Frances upon the same topic.
"Splendid!" cried the latter. "I'll not speak of it, I promise you."
Finally, Ellen suggested the very same thing to Will, who chuckled, looked at Joe, and asked: