"I suppose not," said Ham, "I never miss a meal myself, if I can help it. But don't you think three meals a day is rather short allowance for a boy like Dab?"
Miranda thought a moment, but then she answered, positively: "No, I don't. Not if he does as well at each one of them as Dab is sure to."
"Well," said Ham, "that was in his old clothes, that were too tight for him. Now he's got a good loose fit, with plenty of room, you don't know how much more he may need. No, Miranda, I'm going to have an eye on Dabney."
"You're a dear, good fellow, anyway," said Miranda, "and I hope mother'll have the house all ready for us when we get back."
"She will," replied Ham. "I shall hardly be easy till I see what she has done with it."
CHAPTER IV.
"That's him!"
Dab was standing by the ponies, in front of a store in the village. His mother was making some purchases in the store, and Dab was thinking how the Morris house would look when it was finished, and it was at him the old farmer was pointing in answer to a question which had just been asked.
The questioner was the sharp-eyed boy who had bothered poor Dick Lee that morning.
At that moment, however, a young lady—quite young—came tripping along the sidewalk, and was stopped by Dab Kinzer with: