CHAPTER XXI.
MOLLY BROWN'S ORCHARD HOME.
"Ter think er my Molly Baby back here in Kaintucky, a wedded wife with a live husband er her own! Who'd a thought it? It seems jes' a spell sence she were so teency she had to clim' on a soap box to reach up ter de dough tray ter pinch off a lil piece er yeas' dough ter make her play rolls wif, so she an' that there Kent could have a party in de ole apple tree they called ther carstle. An' now de carstle done blowed down an' in a twinklin' of de eye, most fo' dis ole nigger could tun 'round, here is a sho nuf house whar de carstle stood an' my lil baby chile is mistress here wif a dough tray an' bis'it board er her own, an' now," and here Aunt Mary paused to give one of her inimitable chuckles, "she don' have ter stretch up none ter reach de table but has to ben' over right smart in de tother d'rection."
"Don't you think our bungalow is lovely?" asked Molly, who looked very pretty in her cap and apron as she bent over her own biscuit board cutting out tiny biscuit, the kind that Edwin liked best, ready to bake for breakfast.
"Yes, chile, it is a fittin' home for the likes of you; but fer the land's sake, don' call it no sich a name as that there! It makes me think er hants. It soun's too like bugger-boo ter me. Jes' call it house or home, but not dat scarey name what you and yo' teacher roll out so keerless like."
"All right, Aunt Mary, if you don't like bungalow, 'my teacher' and I will stop calling it that."
Molly popped the biscuit into the oven, put the sliced bacon on the griddle, tested her coffee to see if it had percolated sufficiently, got the butter and cream out of the refrigerator, cracked ice to put in the cantaloupe, and made a pitcher of ice water before it was time to turn the bacon.
"Sakes alive, chile, how you kin tun aroun'! That there Ca'line would a bin a hour doin' what you done 'complished in a few minutes."
Just then Professor Green came into the kitchen, hunting Molly, whom he could not let out of his sight for very long.