"They are men who mend the pipes, dear," his mother answered.
"What pipes?" he asked. "Are the pipes broken?"
His mother laughed. "Well, I suppose they put in the water pipes, and the bathtubs and the basins and the hot-water boiler and all those things."
David nodded, and let his mother kiss him, and then he went out.
And his cat was there, waiting for him, and his cart was there, with his shovel and his hoe in the bottom of it. And he stooped down and took hold of the handle of his cart, and he trudged to the new house, dragging his cart.
The mortar man had gone some time before, and there wasn't any sand-pile, but the foreman saw him coming.
"Hello, Davie," he called.
"Hello," David called back.
"You're just in time to go into the house with me," the foreman said.