"Oh, Annie, we miss you so!" cried Mary.
"Indeed we do!" from the others.
"Maybe I can be with you in a day or so," said Annie. "Father is going to try to return in a very little while."
"Well, until he does come back one of us is going to be with you every day," declared Dum. "Page and Dee need not think they are the only ones who are going to help."
Annie's eyes were full of happy tears. "What have I done to deserve so many dear friends?" she whispered to me.
"Nothing but just be your sweet self!" I answered. "I must peep in and see what Dee is doing to that poor defenseless Dick. I bet she has sold him a kitchen stove by this time."
Annie and I made our way into the outer room, where at the far end we could see Dick and Dee in earnest converse.
"It is a very excellent one," she was declaiming. "In fact, I am sure there is not a better one to be bought. It is air tight and water tight; of the best material; the latest style; the workmanship on it is very superior; the price is ridiculously low. Really I think all country people ought to have one in the house for emergencies. One never can tell when one will be needed and sometimes they are so difficult to get in a hurry."
"That's so!" agreed the enamored Dick. "But I reckon I could get this any time from old man Pore if I should need it."
"Oh, no! You see this is the only one in stock and somebody might come for this this very night, and then where would you be if you needed it? Then even if you could get another one, it might not be nearly so attractive as this one. They are going up, too, all the time,—effect of the war. Of course this was bought when they were not so high, and I am letting you have advantage of the price we paid for it. After this they will be up at least forty per cent.—that's the truth. The war prices are something fierce."