ee if
breakfast had all been eaten. I left Shelley standing there with her
eyes wide, also her mouth. She looked about as intelligent as
Mehitabel Heasty, and it wouldn't have surprised me if she had begun to
jump up and down and say there were snakes in HER shoes. No doubt you
have heard of people having been knocked silly; I knew she was, and so
she had a perfect right to look that way, until she could remember what
she was doing, and come back to herself. Maybe it took her longer,
because mother wasn't there, to remind her about her mouth, and I
didn't propose to mention it.

At breakfast, mother said father was going to drive Frank home in the
carriage, and if I would like, I might go along. I would have to sit
on the back seat alone, going; but coming home I could ride beside and
visit with father. I loved that, for you could see more from the front
seat, and father would stop to explain every single thing. He always
gave me the money and let me pay the toll. He would get me a drink at
the spring, let me wade a few minutes at Enyard's riffles, where their
creek, with the loveliest gravel bed, ran beside the road; and he
always raced like wildfire at the narrows, where for a mile the
railroad ran along the turnpike.

We took Frank to his office, stopped a little while to visit Lucy, and
give her the butter and cream mother sent, went to the store to see
Peter, and then to the post-office. From there we could see that the
veranda of the hotel across the street was filled with gayly dressed
people, and father said that the summer boarders from big cities around
must be pouring in fast. When he came out with the mail he said he
better ask if the landlord did not want some of mother's corn and milk
fed spring chickens, because last year he had paid her more than the
grocer. So he drove across the street, stopped at the curb, and left
me to hold the team.

Maybe you think I wasn't proud! I've told you about Ned and Jo, with
their sharp ears, dappled sides, and silky tails, and the carriage
almost new, with leather seats, patent leather trimmings, and side
lamps, so shiny you could see yourself in the brass. We never drove
into the barn with one speck of mud or dust on it. That was how
particular mother was.

I watched the team carefully; I had to if I didn't want my neck broken;
but I also kept an eye on that veranda. You could see at a glance that
those were stylish women. Now my mother liked to be