fit for that work.
It's goin' in and out of the cold and the heat and the damp that's so
tryin'. He's been holdin' on as long as he could, but now he's ready
enough to part with 'em, and if only he could get a good price it'd
maybe take 'im to the hopen-air, and help to keep the 'ome together till
he's well."

"That sounds the wisest plan," observed Jack thoughtfully.

"Yes, sir, but the point is the sellin' of 'em. They ought to go into a
good big sale, where there'll be plenty of biddin'; they aren't enough
in themselves to draw buyers. And Mother says in her letter this mornin'
they've heard of one that's bein' held in Elmridge on Saturday, a big
one, in the Rookwood grounds. They call it a 'Nurserymen's Combine';
there's a many of them joining, and they're willin' to take in Father's
little lot."

[Illustration]

"Surely the very thing!" said Jack.

"It seems so, doesn't it, sir? Father he sent round at once to make
arrangements. But what do you think? he can't get the carting of 'em
done under three-and-six a load; and, as he says, he hasn't got half a
guinea to lay out that way. Why, it'd pay his train to the hopen-air! So
'e'll have to let it slide, and not get such a chance again in a hurry."

"I'm sure I'm awfully sorry about it," responded Jack feelingly.
"But--but--but keep up your spirits, and who knows what may turn up?"

And with this consoling advice, he turned on his heel.

CHAPTER VIII

JACK'S MAIDEN SPEECH

"You really wish me to understand, Brady, that not you alone, but all
the elder boys--day-pupils and boarders alike--desire of your own
free-will to devote your next Saturday's half-holiday to conveying this
poor man's plants from his house at Brickland to the Rookwood sale?"

"Yes, sir, that's what we want to do."

"H'm! Well, the proposal does you credit, and you certainly might employ
your time much worse than in carrying it out. I don't think it would be
right for me to refuse your request. Mr. Anderson, I feel sure, will be
ready to help and advise you, if necessary, but as the idea is your own
I should like you, as far as possible, to carry it out by yourselves."

"Thank you, sir!" said Jack, and withdrew.

It was evening when this dialogue took place. The day-boys had departed
in an irritable frame of mind, on account of various annoyances of which
they had been the victims during the past two days. Bacon had been
tripped up twice by a piece of string, Hughes had fou