"All right," said Kit. "May we, Mother?"

"Yes," said Vrouw Vedder; "and you may ask Father if he will take
you to market with him to-morrow if it's fair. Tell him I said
you could ask."

"Oh, goody, goody!" said Kit and Kat, both at once; and they ran
as fast as their wooden shoes would take them out into the
garden.

They found their father cutting cabbages and gathering them into
piles. He was stopping to light his pipe, when they reached him.

"O Father!" said Kit and Kat both together. "May we go on the
boat to market with you to-morrow morning? Mother said we might
ask!"

Father Vedder blew two puffs from his pipe without answering.

"We'll help you load the boat," said Kit.

"Yes," said Kat, "I can carry a cabbage."

"I can carry two," said Kit. "We'll both be good," said Kat.

"Very well," said Father, at last. "We'll see how you work! And
to-morrow morning, if it's fair, I'll see! But you must go to bed
early to-night, because you'll have to get up very early in the
morning, if you go with me! Now you each take a cabbage and run