“All right,” replied Jane simply. “I’m sure I’d be only too thankful if you would. After trampin’ miles to pick raspberries, you ain’t so keen on losin’ ’em when you’re within sight of home.”
“Indeed you’re not,” Lucy assented. “These are beauties. Where did you go for them?”
“Most up to the pine ridge you see yonder. I took my lunch an’ have been gone since mornin’.”
“How I wish I could have gone with you!”
“Would you have liked to?” queried Jane incredulously. “Then I wish you might have. It was just the sort of a day to walk. I don’t s’pose, though, your aunt would have spared you for an all-day picnic.”
There was a hint of scorn in the words. 118
“I don’t often have time to go far from the house,” replied Lucy gently, ignoring Miss Howe’s challenge. “There is so much to do.”
“So there is,” agreed Jane hastily. “Certainly we manage to keep busy all the time. When it ain’t one thing, it’s another. There never seems to be any end to it. But I did steal off to-day. The berries were really an excuse. Of course we can make ’em into jam. Still, what I really wanted was to get out in the air.”
“I’ve stolen off too,” said Lucy, with a smile. “My aunt and Tony have gone over to the Crossing for lumber and won’t be back until dark, so I am having a holiday.”
Jane was silent a moment.