Kate was so delighted she could have shouted. Instead she went
with all speed to the stationery counter and bought an envelope to
fit the contract, which she signed, and writing a hasty note of
thanks she mailed the letter in the store mail box, then began her
mother's purchases. This took so much time that her father came
into the store before she had finished, demanding that she hurry,
so in feverish haste she bought what was wanted and followed to
the buggy. On the road home she began to study her father; she
could see that he was well pleased over something but she had no
idea what could have happened; she had expected anything from
verbal wrath to the buggy whip, so she was surprised, but so happy
over having secured such a good school, at higher wages than Nancy
Ellen's, that she spent most of her time thinking of herself and
planning as to when she would go to Walden, where she would stay,
how she would teach, and Oh, bliss unspeakable, what she would do
with so much money; for two month's pay would more than wipe out
her indebtedness to Agatha, and by getting the very cheapest board
she could endure, after that she would have over three fourths of
her money to spend each month for books and clothes. She was
intently engaged with her side of the closet and her end of the
bureau, when she had her first glimpse of home; even preoccupied
as she was, she saw a difference. Several loose pickets in the
fence had been nailed in place. The lilac beside the door and the
cabbage roses had been trimmed, so that they did not drag over the
walk, while the yard had been gone over with a lawn-mower.
Kate turned to her father. "Well, for land's sake!" she said. "I
wanted a lawn-mower all last summer, and you wouldn't buy it for
me. I wonder why you got it the minute I was gone."
"I got it because Nancy Ellen especially wanted it, and she has
been a mighty good girl all summer," he said.
"If that is the case, then she should be rewarded with the
privilege of running a lawn-mower," said Kate.
Her father looked at her sharply; but her face was so pleasant he
decided she did not intend to be saucy, so he said: "No doubt she
will be willing to let you help her all you want to."
"Not the ghost of a doubt about that," laughed Kate, "and I always
wanted to try running one, too. They look so nice in pictures,
and how one improves a place! I hardly know this is home. Now if
we only had a fresh coat of white paint we could line up with the
neighbours."