her side
of them, prepared to join in the conversation as much as allowed by her
mother, who was a great talker, and always took the lead. The two old
lilac sun-bonnets nodded one on each side of the children, as old Sally
began plaintively:

"Yes, I've lost my appetite. I don't seem as if I could fancy nothing
just lately. I'm tired of the food--it's taters, taters, taters, till
I'm fair sick on 'em. Seems as if I could have a bit of summat green,
it'd go down better. There was a gal brought me a mite of turnip tops
t'other day. 'Twarn't on'y a morsel, so as I could hardly find it in
the pot when it was biled, but it give a relish, like."

"Aunt Katharine's sent you a pudding," shouted Maisie, taking it out of
the basket.

"And sech a cough as _I've_ had," put in Anne, seizing the opportunity
to speak, while her mother warmed the end of her trumpet at the fire; "I
expect it's a sharp touch of influenzy."

"I seem to get weaker every day," resumed old Sally, presenting her
trumpet for Maisie's use. "I crawled down to the gate, and couldn't
hardly get back this morning."

"Why don't you have the doctor?" asked Maisie.

Sally shook her head.

"I've never taken no doctor's stuff in all my days," she said. "Anne
there, she's had a deal, poor child; but 'twouldn't do _me_ no good."

Dennis was beginning to make impatient signs, and Maisie knew he would
not stay much longer, so in spite of Anne, who was preparing to speak,
she shouted hastily down the trumpet, "Has your daughter Eliza found the
kitten?"

It was answered as she expected, by solemn shakes of the head, both from
Sally and Anne, in the midst of which the children took their leave.

"Please the Lord to send the rain and make the greens grow," were old
Sally's last words. But there did not seem much chance of rain yet, for
the sun was still shining splendidly, and as the children entered the
shadowy barn, Tuvvy's dark figure was lighted up by a ray which came
straight through the little window. Maisie seated herself modestly in
the background on a chopping-block, while Dennis asked his questions,
for she was rather in awe of Tuvvy, though she liked the barn very much,
and found plenty to interest her. High up among the rough rafters over
her head there were so many cobwebs hanging about, that it puzzled her
to think where all the spiders were who had spun them. There were no
spiders now, but there were masses of cobwebs in every nook and cor