A BUSY MORNING.
The morning was a very short one for Mary. After breakfast, her father went to the telephone to call Sister Madeline, Mrs. Selwyn's sister. Mary breathlessly told her aunt of the great surprise and promised to go out to Maryvale on the early afternoon train. Then she went to look after her pets. Snowball must have a saucer of milk. Dick needed seed, fresh water, and a bit of apple. There was a trip to the garden for some crisp lettuce leaves for her pretty white rabbits, Snowdrop and Snowflake, which she had found, Easter morning, guarding a big nestful of gaily-colored eggs under the lilac bush. She had learned, too, that they were very fond of clover, and it took some time to gather enough for two hungry bunnies. But Mary had found the spots in the big, old-fashioned yard, where the clover grew thickest; and when she returned to Snowflake and Snowdrop, she had a handful for each. After watching them nibble at it for some minutes, she ran down to the barn where Tom, Aunt Mandy's grandson, was busy with the horses.
"Good mawnin', Miss May-ree! Good mawnin'!" he cried, smiling all over his jolly black face. "It 'pears to me yo' is a li'l late dis mawnin'."
"Oh, don't you know why, Tom? Haven't you heard about my new little sisters? You can't begin to think how happy I am."
"Dat's what we all is, Miss May-ree; we sho'ly is dat! I reckon yo' won't be comin' down to de barn ebery mawnin' aftah dis wif sugah lumps fo' ma pets, he! he! he!"
"Indeed I shall, Tom. I didn't forget them this morning, in spite of the s'prise, so why should I on other mornings," and Mary drew a handful of loaf sugar from her pocket.
"Dem hosses would be powahful hurt ef'n yo' did, Miss May-ree. See ole Fanny watchin' yo'? She knows persackly what yo' has fo' her, she sho'ly does. Dey's in de bestest humor dis mawnin' same's de res' ob us, I reckon."
Tom stood near to see that no harm should come to the little girl while she placed lump after lump of sugar on the palm of her hand and let the horses take them.
"Yo' pa jes' done told me dat Liza am gwine to fotch yo' out to see yo' Aunt May-ree dis aftahnoon, and fo' me to be ready to dribe yo' all to de ferry torreckly aftah lunch. Which one ob dem hosses does yo' want me to dribe, Miss May-ree?"
"Whose turn is it, Tom?"