“Several other orchards remain to be picked too,” Mr. McLean said to the Brownie leader. “On the whole, though, the fruit is at the cannery.”
Connie started to fold up some of the quilts. She wanted to put them away so that if rain began to fall, they would not be damaged.
“I don’t think any more people are coming anyhow,” she remarked.
Just as she spoke, an automobile turned down the street. As the Brownies watched, it pulled up at the churchyard.
To the surprise and delight of the girls, Pa Hooper leaped out of the car.
“Oh, he did come after all!” Connie exclaimed, starting toward him.
“And every piece of cherry pie, is gone,” Veve said in dismay. “We haven’t anything now to serve him.”
Pa Hooper, however, was not interested in cherry pie.
He was concerned with far more important and serious matters.
As the orchard owner strode across the festival grounds, the girls saw that he was deeply troubled about something.