“I didn’t know the lot was so awful long and wide. I’m tired of it, anyhow.”
“Very well, my boy. I will take the field back and call the men to finish hoeing the corn, if you say so; if you are willing to give it up now, when it has come to the hoeing, and that half done, count the cost, Frank; count it well.”
“I want to go to the circus,” said the boy, looking ruefully over the long rows of corn that yet remained to be hilled.
“Very well. I am off to the city now. If you conclude to give it up, you can tell John, and call him to finish the hoeing, while you go to the circus; but, Frank, take my advice, and think well before you decide.”
Mr. Hallock went across the field to the place where Neptune, Kate’s pony, waited to take him to the railway station.
The house at Hallock Point overlooked the sea and a large portion of the farm. From an upper window in the house Kate Hallock, Frank’s twin sister, watched her father as he left Neptune under the hedge and crossed the field to speak to her brother. Frank and Kate were thirteen years old, and the youngest children of the family. Kate was devoted to Frank. The minute Mr. Hallock turned to leave the cornfield, she started to learn the result of the interview. By the time she reached Frank she was quite out of breath, for she had made haste as fast as she could, and the dust of the furrows had covered her shoes, and the careless child had left her hat in the house.
“Frank!” she cried, “did he say you might go?”
“Look here, Kate Hallock, what is the use of frightening a year’s growth out of a fellow in that way? I’ve a great mind not to tell you a word he said,” exclaimed the lad, turning suddenly to meet the anxious, expectant face that he was obliged to look down upon to see: for Frank was much taller than Kate.
“O, Frank, I didn’t mean to start you so; but you know I can’t make a noise walking in this soft ground. I’ll borrow the dinner-horn next time I come out to see you, and toot it all the way. Please tell me what he said.”
“See here, Kate, couldn’t you do a kind turn for me? Why didn’t you fetch your hat?”