"Do you think so?" carelessly; "I s'pose they need weedin'. What with my
babies an' all, I don't get much time for posies."
"Oh, please,--would it be too much trouble to let me come an' putter
around in the beds?" queried the little woman eagerly. "Oh, I would like
it so much!"
The other laughed heartily.
"Well, I really don't see how it's goin' to trouble me to have you
weedin' my flowers; in fact, I should think the shoe would be on the
other foot." Then the red showed in her face a little. "You're welcome
to do whatever you want, Mis' Gray."
"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Emily, as she quickly pulled up an enormous
weed at her feet.
It took but a few hours' work to bring about a wonderfully happy change
in that forlorn garden, and then Mrs. Gray found that she had a big pile
of weeds to dispose of. Filling her apron with a portion of them, she
started to go behind the house in search of a garbage heap. Around the
corner she came face to face with her husband, hoe in hand.
"Why, Reuben Gray! Whatever in the world are
you doing?"
For a moment the man was crushed with the enormity of his crime; then he
caught sight of his wife's dirt-stained fingers.
"Well, I guess I ain't doin' no worse than you be!" And he turned his
back and began to hoe vigorously.
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