"Well, any way," said Thomas, with a happy smile on his pleasant old
face, "we can allow ourselves time for a bit of breakfast, or maybe
when she does come we shall be past speaking a word to show her she's
welcome," and while both of them laughed over his little joke, he
made the long-delayed cup of tea, and, though both were too excited
to eat, they sat down together to their breakfast.



CHAPTER II.


JESSIE ARRIVES.

Unwell though she had been, Mrs. Dawson would not let her husband do
a single thing indoors to help her in preparation for the little
newcomer.

"No. Men is only in the way," she said decidedly. "I shall get on
twice as fast if you leave me the place to myself." So, knowing that
she meant what she said, Thomas went out and set to work in the
garden, for, of course, that must be made trim, too, for the little
five-year-old grandchild. He forked over the earth in all the beds,
tied up to a stick every daffodil that did not stand perfectly
upright by itself, trimmed the sweetbriar hedge, and swept the paths.

"If I'd got the time," he called in to Patience, "I would give the
gate a coat of paint."