Company to tea! He almost laughed when he said it. How very strange the sentence sounded.
"O, indeed," said Jim Noxen from the saloon. "Seems to me you are getting big."
"It sounds like it," said Norman. "I wonder if I am?" But this he said to himself; for answer to the remark, he only laughed.
"If I had a chance to keep company with a young fellow like Jerry, and a trim little woman like that sister of yours, I guess I wouldn't often be found with the other set."
This the foreman said, with a significant nod of his head toward the young fellow who represented the other set. And this, too, had its influence.
Jerry and Nettie had a glimpse of one of Norm's friends as they passed his shop on their homeward way.
"He has a good face," said Nettie. "Poor fellow! Hasn't he any home at all? Don't you wish we could get hold of him so close that he would help us? He looks as though he might."
Then she stepped into the boat and floated idly around, while Jerry ran for the oars; and while she floated, she thought and planned. There was a great deal to be done, both then and afterwards.
"I wish you could go with us and catch a fish," said Jerry, as he saw how she enjoyed the water, "but maybe it wouldn't be just the thing."
"I know it wouldn't," said Nettie; "besides, who would make the johnny-cake, and the potato balls? There is a great deal to be done to make things match, when you are catching fish."