Aunty Rose climbed into the creaky old vehicle.
“Are you going to be gone long?” asked Carolyn May politely.
“Not more than two hours, child,” said the housekeeper. “Nobody will bother you here——”
“Not while that dog’s with her, I reckon,” put in Tim, the hackman.
“May I come down the road to meet you, Aunty Rose?” asked the little girl. “I know the way to Uncle Joe’s store.”
“I don’t know any reason why you can’t come to meet me,” replied Mrs. Kennedy. “Anyway, you can come along the road as far as the first house. You know that one?”
“Yes, ma’am. Mr. Parlow’s,” said Carolyn May.
“She knows her way ’round, I warrant,” put in Tim.
“Very well, child,” said Aunty Rose, and the bony old horse started slowly down the dusty road. Carolyn May stood at the gate and watched it wabble away. The hush of the afternoon wrapped the place about. Such a stir as there had been about The Corners in the forenoon seemed to have been quite quenched. Not even the clank of iron on iron from the blacksmith shop was now audible.
Carolyn May went back into the yard and sat on the front-porch steps, and Prince, yawning unhappily, curled down at her feet. There did not seem to be much to do at this place. The little girl lost interest in the maple-key chain which Aunty Rose had shown her how to make.