"What did you do? did you walk home?" asked Alan, while the girls
laughed.

"No, indeed! We made him stop for us, and he had to trot the rest
of the way, you may be sure. Go on, Job!" urged Mrs. Adams,
shaking the lines violently.

But Job settled that matter by whisking his tail over the lines
and holding them firmly, in spite of the attempts his mistress
made to free them once more. Finding her labors of no avail, she
turned her attention to the girls again.

"What if you take another plan for your reading?" she asked,
pulling off one of her long gloves and turning slightly, as she
rested her elbow on the back of the seat. "If you care to come to
our house one or two mornings a week, through the rest of the
vacation, and read aloud with me some good book,--I don't mean
goody,--I should be delighted to have you. You could do the
reading and amuse me while I sew."

"That's elegant!" exclaimed Jean rapturously. "What shall we read,
girls?"

"But are you sure that you want us?" asked Florence doubtfully,
for her mother was not particularly hospitable to the members of
the V, and it seemed impossible to her that Mrs. Adams could be in
earnest in her proposition.

"Indeed I do," responded Mrs. Adams heartily. "I can take that
time for darning the doctor's stockings, and Polly's too, for that