Ethel Mortons Enterprise | Page 9

on the road to Mr. Emerson's?"
"You don't mean the field with the brook where Roger got the pussy willows?"
"This side of it. There's a lovely view across the meadows on the other side of the road, and the land runs back to some rocks and big trees."
"Certainly I know it," assented Ethel Blue. "There's a hillock on it that's the place I've chosen for a house when I grow up and build one."
"Well, you can't have it because I've got there first!"
"What do you mean? Has Aunt Louise--?"
"She has."
"How grand! How grand! You'll be farther away from us than you are now but it's a dear duck of a spot--"
"And it's right on the way to Grandfather Emerson's," added Ethel Brown.
"Mother signed the papers this morning and she's going to begin to build as soon as the weather will allow."
"With peach trees in blossom now that ought not to be far off," laughed Della, waving her hand again at the blossoms that pleased her so much.
"How large a house is she going to build?" asked Ethel Blue.
"Not very big. Large enough for her and me and a guest or two and of course Elisabeth and Miss Merriam," referring to a Belgian baby who had been brought to the United Service Club from war-stricken Belgium, and to her caretaker, a charming young woman from the School of Mothercraft.
"Will it be made of concrete?"
"Yes, and Mother says we may all help a lot in making the plans and in deciding on the decoration and everything."
"Isn't she the darling! It will be the next best thing to building a house yourself!"
"There will be a garage behind the house."
"A garage! Is Aunt Louise going to set up a car?"
"Just a small one that she can drive herself. Back of the garage there's plenty of space for a garden and she says she'll turn that over to me. I can do anything I want with it as long as I'll be sure to have enough vegetables for the table and lots of flowers for the house."
"O, my; O, my; what fun we'll have," ejaculated Della, who knew that Dorothy could have no pleasure that she would not share equally with the rest of the Club.
"I came over now to see if you people didn't want to walk over there and see it."
"This minute?"
"This minute."
"Of course we do--if Della doesn't have to take the train back yet?"
"Not for a long time. I'd take a later one anyway; I couldn't wait until the Saturday Club meeting to see it."
"How did you know I'd suggest a walk there for the Saturday Club meeting?"
"Could you help it?" retorted Della, laughing.
They timed themselves so that they might know just how far away from them Dorothy was going to be and they found that it was just about half way to Grandfather Emerson's. As somebody from the Mortons' went there every day, and as the distance was, in reality, not long, they were reassured as to the Smiths being quite out in the country as the change had seemed to them at first.
"You won't be able to live in the house this summer, will you?" asked Ethel Blue.
"Not until late in the summer or perhaps even later than that. Mother says she isn't in a hurry because she wants the work to be done well."
"Then you won't plant the garden this year?"
"Indeed I shall. I'm going to plant the new garden and the garden where we are now."
"Roger will strike on doing all the digging."
"He'll have to have a helper on the new garden, but I'll plant his sweetpeas for him just the same. At the new place I'm going to have a large garden."
"Up here on the hill?"
The girls were climbing up the ascent that rose sharply from the road.
"The house will perch on top of this little hill. Back of it, you see, on top of the ridge, it's quite flat and the garden will be there. I was talking about it with Mr. Emerson this morning--"
"Oho, you've called Grandfather into consultation already!"
"He's going to be our nearest neighbor on that side. He said that a ridge like this was one of the best places for planting because it has several exposures to the sun and you can find a spot to suit the fancy of about every plant there is."
"Your garden will be cut off from the house by the garage. Shall you have another nearer the road?"
"Next summer there will have to be planting of trees and shrubs and vines around the house but this year I shall attend to the one up here in the field."
"Brrrr! It looks bleak enough now," shivered Ethel Blue.
"Let's go up in those woods and see what's there."
"Has Aunt Louise bought them?"
"No, but she wants to. They don't belong to the