how, making me dependent
on her. I wish my grandmother hadn't been such a hoot-owl."

Cynthia looked at him reprovingly. "You are terribly disrespectful," she
said, "and I think you needn't make such a fuss. You're pretty lucky to
have such a sister as mamma."

"Oh, Hessie might be worse, I don't deny. It's immense to hear you great
girls call her 'mamma,' though. I never thought to see Hessie marry a
widower with a lot of children. What was she thinking of, anyway?"

"Well, you are polite! She was probably thinking what a very nice man my
father is," returned Cynthia, loftily.

"He is a pretty good fellow. So far I haven't found him a bad sort of
brother-in-law. I don't know how it will be when I put in my demand for
a bigger allowance in the fall. I have an idea he could be pretty stiff
on those occasions. But that's why I want to go into the poultry
business."

"And I don't mind having you," said Jack. "Sharing the profits is
sharing the expense, and so far I've seen more expense than profit.
However, when they begin to lay and we send the eggs to market, then the
money will pour in. I say we don't do anything but sell eggs. It would
be an awful bore to get broilers ready for market. By-the-way, I think
we had better go back now and finish up that brooder we were making."

"Oh, no hurry," said Neal. "It won't take three minutes to do that, and
it's jolly out here. It's the coolest place I've been in to-day. Let's
talk some more about the poultry business. We'll call ourselves
'Franklin & Gordon, Oakleigh Poultry Farm.' That will look dandy on the
bill-heads. And we'll make a specialty of those pure white eggs. I say,
Cynthia, what are you grinning at?"

"I am not grinning. I am not a Cheshire cat."

"I don't know. I've already felt your claws once or twice. But you've
got something funny in your head. The corners of your mouth are
twitching, and your eyes are dancing like--like the river."

Cynthia cast up her blue eyes in mock admiration. "Hear! hear! He grows
poetical. But as you are so very anxious to know what I am 'grinning'
at," she added, demurely, "I'll tell you. I was only thinking of a
little proverb I have heard. It had something to do with counting
chickens before they are hatched."

"Oh, come off!" exclaimed Jack, while Neal laughed good-naturedly.

"And I've also a suggestion to make," went on Cynthia. "From what I have
gathered during our short acquaintance, I think Mr. Neal Gordon isn't
o