"Look, mother! Look, everybody!" he exclaimed. "It's all done! Here
are the three hundred and fifty blocks all in one pile. Now, I'm ready
for my money, mother."

"Why, Johnny!" gasped Mrs. Marshall, in astonishment. "It isn't
possible you have done them all in two short weeks!"

"Here they are," answered Johnny, smiling broadly. "Todd got in a
hurry for his money, and I was so everlasting tired of the old
patchwork that I had to think of some plan; so I farmed out two
hundred of the blocks at a quarter of a cent apiece. I got up a sort
of secret society, and we sewed after school and on Saturdays in the
barn. The boys are waiting around the corner for their money now.
There's ten of 'em, and I owe each one a nickel. So give me part of
the money in small change, please, mother. Todd's there, too, 'cause I
told him that you said you'd pay the very hour they were done."

He dropped the bundle in her lap and hopped up and down, holding one
foot in his hand. "Now the rifle's mine," he sang. "I can look the
whole world in the face, for I owe not any man." He was quoting from
the memory exercises at school. His eager face clouded a little at his
mother's ominous silence. He shifted uneasily from one foot to
another, wondering why she did not speak. At last she said, slowly:

"But I had expected to pay you out of the turkey money, and I can't
get that before Christmas. I hadn't an idea you could finish before
then. And, oh, Johnny!" she added, sadly, "I thought it would be all
your own work. What do I care for a quilt made by Tom, Dick, and
Harry? I consented to spend so much money on it, because I thought it
would give you employment for six or seven weeks at least, and that we