Quiet was restored, and after she had gotten René to bed, Desiré went out behind the cabin where Jack was preparing a place for the new member of the family. He had turned on an end the box which had held their belongings while they were on the road, and placed a bit of old carpet in the bottom.
“Behold the kennel!” he said proudly, with a wave of the hand.
“But will he stay in it?” asked Desiré, somewhat doubtfully.
“Not without being tied, for a few nights,” replied Jack, running a rope from the dog’s collar through a stout staple on the side of the box. “Then he’ll be used to the place.”
“You haven’t told me anything yet about your job prospects,” said Desiré rather reproachfully, as they walked around to the front door.
“How could I, in all the noise and excitement?” laughed Jack. “Let’s sit out here for a while. Wait a minute; I’ll get a couple of chairs.”
He brought out the rocker for his sister, and a straight chair for himself, tilting it back against the side of the house to make it more comfortable.
“It’s a great night,” he commented, with a sigh of content. “Just see that moon! Doesn’t it look as if it were stuck in the top of the trees?”
“Nights like this ought to make our gardens grow fast,” replied Desiré. “Now what about the job?”
“Well, I have a temporary one; will last about a week or two; and a promise of a steady one for the rest of the summer. Isn’t that great?”
“Certainly is. Where, and what doing?”
“You know we heard that there was to be a bus line through this part of the country?”
“Yes, but you can’t drive a bus, Jack.”
“Hardly; but it seems that the company that is to run it is sending men here from Boston who, though they know how to run busses, know nothing about the country. So I’m to ride around with them, show them the best roads, and tell them local history until they’ve learned the ropes. Of course that won’t take very long, but it’s fair pay while it lasts. They’ll pick me up at the end of the lane here every day.”
“Priscilla and René will be desperately envious of you, I’m afraid.”
“Very likely. Maybe before the season is over I’ll be able to take all of you on a little trip, over part of the route at least.”
“That would be lovely, but don’t mention it before the children. I feel that if we have any extra money it ought to be put away.”
“I suppose you’re right; but I’d like to be able to give you a little pleasure sometimes.”
“I know, and I do have pleasure, Jack; and we’ll just look forward to more chance for such things in the future. And about the other job?”
“Jim Rutland is going to open a kind of lunch stand in one end of his general store; for tourists, you know. He wants me to run it.”
“But why does Jim need anyone? I should think he could attend to both himself.”
“He has to be out of the store quite a lot. He sells everything from chickens to farm machinery, has a gas station, and I don’t know what else. He thought his son would stay home and help him out this summer, as he did last; but he had a chance to go to the States, and he’s going.”
“Is it much of a job, Jack?” asked Desiré, rather doubtfully.
“Not so much, but there’s pretty good money in it. He is going to let me have a small commission on the tourist business, aside from a fair salary. Makes it more interesting, and it will do very well indeed until I have an opportunity at something better. It will keep us going until fall—when I can have the mail again—and I hope will give us something to add to the ‘nest egg.’”
They fell silent, Jack wondering how he could get something really worth while to do, and Desiré racking her brains to think of some way in which she could contribute to their income.
“Who’s going to do the baking for the lunch room?” she asked suddenly, “Jim hasn’t a wife or mother, has he?”
“No; but why do you want to know?”
“I thought I might do it.”
“You! You have plenty to do now.”
“Not really, dear. The work here is very easy, and Prissy is getting to be quite a help. It wouldn’t be at all hard to bake some cookies and tarts, make sandwiches, and things like that. I could make pies, using wild berries which the children could gather. Oh, if Jim Rutland is willing, say you’ll let me try, Jack. I’ll bet you’d have the most popular lunch room in Nova Scotia! And think what it would mean, with your commission!”
“I’ve no doubt of its popularity after people had once tasted the good things you can make.”
“I could spread my biscuits with jam, or serve them hot with honey; and, oh, there would be no end to the nice little things, all ready to eat, that you could sell or serve.”
Desiré’s imagination, fired by her enthusiasm, supplied her with numerous ideas to be put into practice if only Jack wouldn’t object.
“Do let me try it, Jack.”
“I’m afraid that you would overwork.”
“Nonsense. Of course I won’t. I promise to give it up if I feel that it’s too much. But I just love to cook.”
“Well, I’ll speak to Jim tomorrow, if I get a chance, and see what his plans are. Meanwhile, I’ve got to be ready to meet the bus at seven-thirty in the morning; so let’s go in.”
The big bus stopped at the end of the lane promptly at seven-thirty each morning for a week; then Jack announced one night that tomorrow would be his last day.
CHAPTER XXVIII
A FIND
“Sorry?” asked Desiré, looking up from the lettuce she was preparing for their supper.
“It has been pleasant,” replied her brother, selecting a radish from a dish on the table, and beginning to eat it. “George, the driver, is a nice fellow, and we’ve had some fun together; but it’s a kind of a lazy life, after all. Of course somebody has to do it, but I think I prefer more activity.”
“Have you seen Jim yet about the baked goods?”
Jack’s hours had been so arranged that he had been unable to stop at the Rutland General Store.
“Ran across him this noon. He’s tickled to death over your ideas, and says he’ll take everything you can make, starting Thursday.”
Desiré was delighted.
“You’ll just have to get rid of that horrid dog,” declared Priscilla, coming in at that moment, about ready to cry.
“Why, what’s he done now?” asked Jack.
“He went and dug up all my nasturtiums. He’s always digging somewhere. He’s a perfect pest!”
“I’ll look after him,” said her brother, going out to the garden.
He punished Rover, and, leaving Priscilla replanting the remnants of her flowers, returned to Desiré.
“I wouldn’t say it before the children,” said Desiré, when Jack reported the condition of Priscilla’s garden, “but Rover has a most unfortunate passion for digging; and, as if he knew that Priscilla disapproved of him, he usually selects some part of her garden. I’ve whipped him two or three times, but back he goes the next time the fancy strikes him.”
Jack laughed. “I can imagine