"Perhaps we can do so, Berta, since this is the first moving-day that we have ever had in any of our lives." Mrs. Marvin looked very grave. "What do you think about it, Elizabeth?"
"I quite agree with you, Etta, if these little folks will remember to lay aside their working clothes at meal time in future." Mrs. Selwyn was just as serious as Mrs. Marvin.
"And the very first one we is going to help is Daddy."
"I fear you can not do anything to assist me until later in the day, Beth, thank you. I am going to take the library in hand, and the books that I shall pack this morning will be too large and heavy for such little people to handle. However, I am very sure that you can make yourselves useful by carrying messages for every one."
"Oh, goody! I hope they's going to be great, big, heavy ones. Dick has strong mushes in his arms, and he's going to show Beth and me how to get some, too, so we can lift big things like——like trunks!"
"Better begin with your doll trunks, then. It will take many years for even Dick's muscles to grow strong enough to lift a steamer trunk, for instance."
"Oh, but I'se quite sure you never did see Dick's mushes, Uncle Frank."
The morning was a very exciting one for the four little folks. Up the front stairs, through the halls, down the back stairs, they raced, Berta always leading, and baby Jack, carefully watched by Beth, bringing up the rear. At the door of every room where packing was being done, they stopped while their leader asked, "Does you s'pects you would like us to help you?" until the oft-repeated answer, "Not just at present," at last caused the twins to sink on the stairs and sob out their disappointment.
Knowing that his mother was with Mrs. Selwyn in the storeroom on the third floor, Dick ran for his sister and Mary, who were busy carrying piles of sheets, pillowcases, towels, and table linen from a closet in the hall to a big trunk in one of the bedrooms.
"Come quick, Willie! The girls are crying their eyes out, 'cause they can't help."