we shall do nothing of the kind. How well Parnassus looks from here!'
said Nan, abruptly changing the conversation again.

'It is a fine house; but I love old Plum best. Wouldn't Aunt March
stare if she could see the changes here?' answered Tom, as they both
paused at the great gate to look at the pleasant landscape before
them.

A sudden whoop startled them, as a long boy with a wild yellow head
came leaping over a hedge like a kangaroo, followed by a slender
girl, who stuck in the hawthorn, and sat there laughing like a witch.
A pretty little lass she was, with curly dark hair, bright eyes, and
a very expressive face. Her hat was at her back, and her skirts a
good deal the worse for the brooks she had crossed, the trees she had
climbed, and the last leap, which added several fine rents.

'Take me down, Nan, please. Tom, hold Ted; he's got my book, and I
will have it,' called Josie from her perch, not at all daunted by the
appearance of her friends.

Tom promptly collared the thief, while Nan picked Josie from among
the thorns and set her on her feet without a word of reproof; for
having been a romp in her own girlhood, she was very indulgent to
like tastes in others. 'What's the matter, dear?' she asked, pinning
up the longest rip, while Josie examined the scratches on her hands.
'I was studying my part in the willow, and Ted came slyly up and
poked the book out of my hands with his rod. It fell in the brook,
and before I could scrabble down he was off. You wretch, give it back
this moment or I'll box your ears,' cried Josie, laughing and
scolding in the same breath.