“Lemons,” struck in Lucy, ashamed of Sadie’s weakness.
“A dozen, and some fresh butter. Lard,—perhaps ten pounds, for pies.”
“Anything else,” asked the grocer, deferentially, as he jotted these orders into a notebook. “I’ll bring them to-morrow—a real pretty situation here. What do you call it? Old Maid’s Hall?”
“No, a convent,” said Sadie quickly, “for we shall have to fast if you’re not coming back with our groceries till to-morrow.”
“Why, Miss Sadie, it’s all of two miles, and it won’t pay to come twice a day,” said the grocer, wiping his heated brows.
“Well, we shall have to fast, then. This is a convent, as I told you, and we are nuns—Capuchin nuns—for you know Capuchin nuns are famous for fasting.”
“So they be,” laughed Mr. Fowler, though it was the first time in his life he had ever heard of a Capuchin nun; “so they be,” and rode away laughing, to tell Dr. Gray and Major Patten, whom he met in the village, “that those children were having a high old time down there at the cottage, and were bright as pins, every one of ’em.”
“They forgot to order meat, but hadn’t I better take down some Cape Cod turkey to keep off starvation?” He meant salt codfish.
“How do you suppose they’ll make way with ten pounds of lard, though?”
“Never mind,” replied Dr. Gray, throwing his head back to laugh; “they beg not to be interfered with, and we’ll let them have their own way for a while.”