Chapter Fourteen
Dad Finds a Treasure
BILLY and Jane sat on the big stone posts at the gate swinging their legs and watching for the mailman. They tried to guess what he would bring.
“James will get his usual letter from that stamp dealer down east,” said Jane. “He will say: ‘Dear Mr. Murray, I received your want list, but you failed to include your money’ or he’ll say: ‘Dear Mr. Murray, I received your dollar and three cents, but you failed to include your want list. Please advise, etc.’” They laughed merrily at absent-minded James and his difficulties, and then Jane heard the familiar squeal of the mailman’s brakes.
“Here he comes,” she cried. “I’ll race you to the mailbox!” They jumped off the posts and ran across the road. Jane had the shorter distance, but Billy won by throwing himself full length on the grass and sliding to touch the post.
“Really, Billy,” panted Jane. “Sometimes you use the foulest and the most unfairest means....”
Billy hooted. “Foulest and unfairest!” Then, imitating her angry voice, he said, “Really, Jane, you use the most unusual adjectives!”
She threw a shoe at him, and he ran away laughing.
The mailman’s car slid in close to the mailbox. He had a brown face, all wrinkled from smiling. He was an usher at the little church in Deerpath, and when he passed the collection plate to Janie on Sunday his eyes crinkled up in a smile just as they did now when he passed the letters from box to box at the lake.