When the party reached home they found Bob shaven and shorn, Neal in his most careless and teasing frame of mind, Edith depressed and silent, and the children in disgrace.
"I knew something was happening while we were away," whispered Cynthia to Jack.
"If only we hadn't missed it!" returned he. "Smashing the buggy and shaving Bob, all in one day! It's a regular shame that we weren't on hand."
"It seems to me that you were neglecting things somewhat to-day, Edith," said her father, when he heard the story.
There! it had come. Of course she was to be censured, as she had expected.
"I didn't know I was to be tied hand and foot and look after the children every minute of the day," she answered, crossly; "and it was not my fault that we went to the woods and broke the buggy."
"I don't care in the least about the buggy, but about Neal's dog."
This was too much. Edith felt badly herself about the dog, but surely she was not responsible. She had not been the means of bringing him to Oakleigh, she said to herself. She was about to reply, when Mrs. Franklin interposed and diverted her husband's mind from the subject. This still further annoyed Edith.
Why should Mrs. Franklin feel called upon to interfere between her and her father? And she encouraged herself to dislike more than ever the "intruders" at Oakleigh.
The summer went by. More chickens were hatched, until they numbered four hundred, and then "Franklin & Gordon" concluded that they would not fill the machine again this season. The stock must be carefully tended during the winter, and Jack would have his hands full, though one of the men would help him if necessary.