The Service on the Threshold
housekeepin' with. I guess there won't be no supper here for you to-night."
"We've got it with us," said Nancy joyously, making acquaintance in an instant.
"You are forehanded, ain't you! That's right!—jump, you little pint o' cider!" Bill said, holding out his arms to Peter. Peter, carrying many small things too valuable to trust to others, jumped, as suggested, and gave his new friend an unexpected shower of bumps from hard substances concealed about his person.
"Land o' Goshen, you're loaded, hain't you?" he inquired jocosely as he set Peter down on the ground.
The dazzling smile with which Peter greeted this supposed tribute converted Bill Harmon at once into a victim and slave. Little did he know, as he carelessly stood there at the wagon wheel, that he was destined to bestow upon that small boy offerings from his stock for years to come.
He and Colonel Wheeler were speedily lifting things from the carryall, while the Careys walked up the pathway together, thrilling with the excitement of the moment. Nancy breathed hard, flushed, and caught her mother's hand.
"O Motherdy!" she said under her breath; "it's all happening just as we dreamed it, and
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