"You may go," said his father, promptly.
"You shall proceed according to your Aunt Katherine's
instructions," said his mother, at the same time.
"Katie, get your carpet-sack! When do we start?" demanded young
Adam.
"Morning will be all right with me, you blessed youngun," said
Kate, "but I don't own a telescope or anything to put what little
I have in, and Nancy Ellen never would spare hers; she will want
to go to County Institute before I get back."
"You may have mine," said Agatha. "You are perfectly welcome to
take it wherever your peregrinations lead you, and return it when
you please. I shall proceed to my chamber and formulate your
check immediately. You are also welcome to my best hat and cape,
and any of my clothing or personal adornments you can use to
advantage."
"Oh, Agatha, I wish you were as big as a house, like me," said
Kate, joyfully. "I couldn't possibly crowd into anything you
wear, but it would almost tickle me to death to have Nancy Ellen
know you let me take your things, when she won't even offer me a
dud of her old stuff; I never remotely hoped for any of the new."
"You shall have my cape and hat, anyway. The cape is new and very
fashionable. Come upstairs and try the hat," said Agatha.
The cape was new and fashionable as Agatha had said; it would not
fasten at the neck, but there would be no necessity that it should
during July and August, while it would improve any dress it was
worn with on a cool evening. The hat Kate could not possibly use
with her large, broad face and mass of hair, but she was almost as
pleased with the offer as if the hat had been most becoming. Then
Agatha brought out her telescope, in which Kate laid the cape
while Agatha wrote her a check for one hundred and twenty dollars,
and told her where and how to cash it. The extra twenty was to
buy a pair of new walking shoes, some hose, and a hat, before she
went to her train. When they went downstairs Adam, Jr., had a
horse hitched and Adam, 3d, drove her to her home, where, at the
foot of the garden, they took one long survey of the landscape and
hid the telescope behind the privet bush. Then Adam drove away
quietly, Kate entered the dooryard from the garden, and soon
afterward went to the wash room and hastily ironed her clothing.
Nancy Ellen had gone to visit a neighbour girl, so Kate risked her
remaining until after church in the evening. She hurried to their
room and mended all her own clothing she had laid out. Then she
deliberately went over Nancy Ellen's and helped herself to a pair
of pretty nightdresses, such as she had never owned, a white
embroidered petticoat, the second best white dress, and a most
becoming sailor hat. These she made into a parcel and carried to
the wash room, brought in the telescope and packed it, hiding it
under a workbench and covering it with shavings. After that she
went to her room and wrote a note, and then slept deeply until the
morning call. She arose at once and went to the wash room but
instead of washing the family clothing, she took a bath in the
largest tub, and washed her hair to a state resembling spun gold.
During breakfast she kept sharp watch down the road. When she saw
Adam, 3d, coming she stuck her note under the hook on which she
had seen her father hang his hat all her life, and carrying the
telescope in the clothes basket covered with a rumpled sheet, she
passed across the yard and handed it over the fence to Adam,
climbed that same fence, and they started toward Hartley.