Janet | Page 5

our grandmother and wanting to see you! Tut, tut!" Martha shook her gray head in real despair. She was a kindly old woman, who had served faithfully all her life, but because it was so simple for her to do what was expected of her always she had never understood how hard it was sometimes for others; but she was never cross and usually contented herself with saying "Tut, tut!" in her mild old voice at all of Janet's failings.
"What does Mrs. Waters want me for?" Janet asked. A vision of Harry's mother retailing the afternoon's adventure with the snake made her heart sink.
"I couldn't say, my dear," Martha replied placidly. "Your grandmother sent me to get you. Here now, brush up your hair a little bit. Are your hands clean?"
Janet submitted to being tidied up, and then hurried downstairs to her grandmother's room.
Mrs. Waters was seated in the visitor's chair, her back to the door, but she turned around when Janet entered and smiled a welcome. Mrs. Page spoke:
"Janet, what is all this I hear about your knowing how to take care of sick dogs?" she inquired crossly.
Janet hesitated. She did know a good deal about the care of all animals, but she was at a loss as to how to explain her knowledge to her grandmother.
"Well, do you or don't you know anything about them?" Mrs. Page insisted impatiently.
"Yes, I do know about them." Janet's reply came so quickly that it surprised herself.
Her grandmother looked at her for a long minute and then nodded her head. "Very well; go with Mrs. Waters and do what you can for her dog," she said sharply, and then to indicate that the interview was at an end she turned her back on her visitors.
Mrs. Waters took Janet's arm and hurried out of the room. She was a timid little woman, very easily silenced, and she still spoke in a half whisper when they were out of the house.
"It's Roy, my dear, our English setter; he has hurt his paw, and the veterinary is away," she explained.
Janet gave a mighty sigh of relief. Harry had not told tales. She smiled at his mother reassuringly.
"Poor old fellow. I hope I can do something to help him."
"Oh, I'm sure you can. Harry says you are wonderful with animals," Mrs. Waters replied. "Roy is such a valuable dog," she added.
They reached the Waters' cottage, just off the main street of the little village, and Janet followed Mrs. Waters around to the barn. Before the door was opened, she could hear the low moan of an animal in pain. Once inside, she knelt down beside Roy and patted him. He gave her the affectionate welcome, always awarded a true dig lover.
She examined his paw and found the trouble to be a deeply embedded splinter.
"May I have a darning needle?" she asked. Mrs. Waters hurried to the house to get it. Janet busied herself filling a basin with clear spring water, and she took the towel from its roller on the kitchen porch.
"Here it is, my dear," Mrs. Waters said, "and a bottle of peroxide. You don't mind if I don't stay, do you? I'd be sure to faint."
Janet smiled. "No indeed. I can get along quite well alone," she said, and knelt to her task.
For the next few minutes she was absorbed in her work. The splinter was in deep, and it was hard to make Roy lie still. She was about to give up in despair when a voice, almost at her elbow, said:
"Here, let me help."
She turned quickly, startled, and saw a boy about fifteen, very shabbily dressed in old blue overalls and a torn straw hat. His hair, burnt by the sun, was almost red, and his eyes were a clear gray. Janet was too astonished to speak, but with a nod she accepted his offer to help, and they worked in silence until the splinter was out and the wound carefully bathed.
"I guess I'll let him lick it," Janet said, putting aside the bandage Mrs. Waters had given her. The boy nodded.
"Best way," he said. "Do you know horses as well as dogs?" he inquired slowly.
"No, we haven't any, you see,"? Janet replied, as she gathered up her things and started for the house.
"Too bad." The boy spoke with a drawl that had nothing of laziness in it but a good deal of dreamy calculation. He leaned over and patted Roy. "Good night, old fellow," he said, and without a word more to Janet he disappeared as quickly as he had come.
Janet went on into the house, wondering who he could be, but for some reason she did not ask Mrs. Waters, perhaps because that good lady was too busy thanking her.
"I think you are so clever, dearie," she said warmly. "I