Faith looked a little wistfully, but only said,
"We must look at it after the nutting is done. That's a bit of reading hereabout you ought not to pass over."
"I mean to read 'everything I can,' too," he said with a smile as they reached the tree.
"Now Mr. Linden," said Joe Deacon, "this tree's a whapper! How long you suppose it'll take you to go up?"
"About as long as it would you to come down—every-one knows how long that would be. Stand out of my way, boys—catch all the burrs on your own heads and don't let one fall on Miss Derrick." And amidst the general laugh Mr. Linden swung himself up into the branches in a way that made his words good; while Joe Deacon whistled and danced 'Yankee Doodle' round the great trunk.
Half at least of Mr. Linden's directions the boys obeyed;—they caught all the burrs they well could, on their own heads. Faith was too busy among them to avoid catching some on her own bright hair whenever her sunbonnet declined to stay on, which happened frequently. The new object lent this tree a new interest of its own, and boys being an untiring species of animals the sport went on with no perceptible flagging. But when this tree too was about half cleared, Faith withdrew a little from the busy rush and bustle, left the chestnuts and chestnut burrs, and sat down on the bank to rest and look. Her eye wandered to the further woodland, softest of all in hazy veils; to the nearer brilliant vegetation; the open fallow; the wood behind her, where the trees closed in upon each other; oftenest of all, at the 'whapper' of a tree in which Mr. Linden still kept his place, and at the happy busy sight and sound of all under that tree.
And so it happened, that when in time Mr. Linden came down out of Mr.
Simlins' chestnut, besides the boys he found nobody there but Mr.
Simlins himself.
"Well!"—said that gentleman after a cordial grasp of the hand,—"I reckon, in the matter of nuts you're going to reduce me to penur'ousness! How you like Neanticut?"
"It's a fine place," said Mr. Linden.—"And for the matter of nuts, you need not take the benefit of the bankrupt act yet, Mr. Simlins."
"Over here to see a man on business," Mr. Simlins went on in explanation,—"and thought I'd look at you by the way. Don't you want to take this farm of me?"