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The Runaways · The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank

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  Chapter sixteen of The Bobsey Twins at Cloverbank. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  please visit LibriVox dot org. The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank by Laura Lee
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  Hope the Runaways. Shall we go in, asked Nan of her brother in
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  a whisper, after they had stood outside the door a few moments, listening
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  to the voices within the room. Well I guess so, yes, he
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  replied. Then, as he listened and heard the sound of laughter mingled with
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  the talking, he began to believe that, after all, Missus Martin had
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  only called in a friendly way and not to get the baby again. Sure,
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  let's go in, said Bert, followed by Fosse and Freddy, who
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  did not understand very much about why the other two had delayed. The twins
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  entered the room where the old lady who had acted so strangely about Baby May
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  was seated. Missus Bobbsey and Missus Watson were also there, and so was
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  Baby Jenny, who was being held by the old lady. Well hear the
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  lost twins, exclaimed Missus Bobbsey, with a laugh as her four entered lost.
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  We weren't lost, said Bert, in some surprise. I know I
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  was only joking. His mother told him you were gone a long time,
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  and while you are away, this friend of yours called, and she motioned
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  to missus Martin. Do you remember me, my DearS, asked missus Martin,
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  nodding at each of the Bobbsey twins in turn. Oh yes, ma'am,
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  answered Nan politely. Missus Martin could tell that the children were just a
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  little bit afraid of her. It really was no wonder, for she had
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  acted very strangely in leaving baby Jenny in a basket on the Bobbseys steps during
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  a storm, and later stealing the baby away again. Of course, afterwards,
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  as you know if you've read the book, everything came out all right.
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  I'm all right now, the old lady said, For she guessed that
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  Bert and the others were looking at her curiously. You needn't be afraid of
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  me, my DearS. I'm not going to take this darling baby away any
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  more. I just came to pay a little visit to her, but I
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  didn't expect to find the Bobbsey twins here. We're glad to see you,
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  was Bert's polite remark. And we're glad you're better, added Nan. But
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  you look sort of sort of different, said Freddie. She looks like now
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  like the grandmother in Red riding Hood, FLOSSI said. After a little hesitation
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  over the matter, everyone laughed, and Missus Martin said, it's my glasses.
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  I guess. Always. Up until a week ago, I used the
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  kind of glasses that pinch on your nose, she told Missus Bobbsey and Missus
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  Watson. Then my eyes began to get worse, and I went to the
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  doctor, who said I needed different glasses, and he wrote out the kind
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  I should get on a paper. I took it to a shop, and
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  they may me these glasses that fasten over my ears and stay on better than
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  the nose kind, and I can see ever so much better. I think
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  it must be my glasses that makes me appear strange to the children. Yes,
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  I guess it is, said Nan. I never saw you with glasses
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  on before. Well, I hope you will get used to them, my
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  dear, and like me, went on Missus Martin, I am quite proud
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  of these glasses. I hope nothing happens to them, she said, anxiously
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  if they get broken or I lost them. I could hardly see it all
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  my eyes have changed. So I am getting old, I guess, she
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  said with a sigh. But then we all have to do that. Even
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  baby Jenny is older than when I so foolishly took her away and left her
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  on your steps, she told Missus Bobbsey. Yes, and my twins are
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  growing up too, said their mother. Though sometimes when they act foolishly fall
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  into brooks and ride on hayforks, I fear they are growing younger instead of
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  older, she concluded with a laugh. They can't be young, but once,
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  missus Martin said, as she took off her glasses to wipe them on
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  a piece of soap she carried in her pocket. Baby Jenny had reached up
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  and put her fingers on the glass, making a blurred place. No,
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  they can't be young, but once. More's the pity. Have all the
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  fun you can when you are little, she advised the children. I guess
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  you don't need to tell them that, said their mother. Flossie and Freddy
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  went into the yard to play. Bert and Nan, after having talked a
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  while longer with Missus Martin, also left the room. Later they learned that
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  Missus Martin had come to stay a week or two with her cousin, Missus
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  Watson. That evening, after supper, the Bopsey twins made up their minds
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  that they were going to like Missus Martin very much, for she gathered them
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  about her after the evening's play and told them some fine stories. Even Bert,
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  who liked out of door games more than he did books, was interested
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  in the tales the old lady told some. But he tell you that story,
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  asked Freddy, after the ending of one he had liked very much.
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  No, my dear, I read it in a book, was the answer.
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  And now that I have my new glasses, I can read a lot
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  more stories to tell you. That's good, said Flossie. I hope nothing
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  happens to your glasses, Missus Martin. I hope not myself, she said.
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  If I lost them or broke them, I would have hard work to
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  replace them, especially out here at Cloverbank. Then I couldn't read any more.
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  The next day was a rainy one, the first the children had met
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  with since coming to Cloverbank, though as you remember, they had arrived in
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  a hard shower. At first, the twins were rather disappointed when they awakened
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  and heard the drizzling downpour, for they had planned a picnic in the woods.
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  But Missus Bobbsey, seeing their unhappy faces, laughed and said, this
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  is just the kind of day to play in the attic. There was a
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  bookcase in the attic, and in it Nan found some old children's books that
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  belonged to Missus Watson's mother when she was a little girl, and such funny
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  funny stories about such very proper little girls, and never before read, Nan
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  told her mother. Afterwards. There were trunks full of old clothes and flossy
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  dressed up in these. There were some ropes, too, and the boys
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  fastened these to the rafters and did or Bert did, and Freddy tried to
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  do all sorts of acrobatic tricks. There was old furniture and chairs and tables
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  were pulled out and made to do for a house, a steamboat, and
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  a train of cars in turn. After dinner, Missus Watson pleaded with Missus
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  Bobbsey that the boys be permitted to put on overalls and the girls old dresses,
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  and ran out in the rain to play. Missus Bobbsey thought the children
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  might catch cold, but Missus Watson laughed and said that such a warm summer
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  rain would never hurt running children if they came in and dried themselves. As
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  soon as they stopped playing so out in the falling rain rushed Nan and Bert,
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  Freddy and Flossie, and such a game of tag as they had,
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  the smaller twins not always being caught either. Then came a jolly game of
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  puss once a corner with trees for corners. After this they went in the
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  house again, and after putting on dry clothing, went back to the attic
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  for the rest of the afternoon. Before the Bobbsey twins knew it, the
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  rainy day had passed and night had come. They had spent many happy hours
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  in the attic and running about in the rain. Then came an evening story
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  by Missus Martin, and soon it was bedtime, even for the older twins
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  Bert and Nan. Well, I'm glad to see the sun, said Missus
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  Watson. The next morning, after breakfast, I was afraid it was going
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  to rain, and I couldn't get the rest of my peaches picked. But
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  this is a fine day. As soon as the orchard had dried up a
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  little, the men and women peach gatherers appeared, and soon they were the
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  same busy scenes that the visitors had observed when they first came to Cloverbank.
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  As more pickers came to work than he expected did, mister Watson soon found
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  that a great quantity of fruit was gathered in the barn to be sorted,
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  and this must be done quickly so the baskets could be hurried to the market
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  to be sold. I'll come out and help you sort, offered mister Bobbsey,
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  who had returned from his trip to the city. So will I,
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  his wife said, we will too, exclaimed Nan and Bert, the small
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  twins, offered their services, but as it was doubtful whether or not they
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  could tell the choice fruit from that intended for the nearby canning factory, their
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  mother decided they had better play about the barn while the others sorted. The
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  barn was soon a busy place, with a small truck and wagon bringing in
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  the fruit from the orchard, and the sorders picking out the different grades.
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  The whole place had a most delightful perfume about it from the crushed peaches,
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  for in spite of care, some would fall and be bruised, quickly getting
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  soft Burt and Nan soon learned to do good work at the sorting bins,
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  watching what the expert workers did, and mister Watson, pausing near them once
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  or twice, said they were doing very well. Missus Bobbsey, knowing a
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  lot about peaches, for she had canned many of them, was able to
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  work with the best of em. Nor was mister Bobbsey far behind. I'm
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  glad you Bobbsey. Folks came out to Cloverbank, chuckled the farmer during a
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  lull in the work. I never had such a big crop of peaches before,
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  and good workers are scarce. We're working hard for our board, Missus
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  Bobbsey said with a laugh, And that reminds me. Mister Watson, your
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  wife said she would like you to send a few baskets of peaches to the
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  house, as some friends of hers are going to stop for them during the
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  day. I'll have Zeke take out some ripe ones, was the answer,
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  and this was done, the baskets of peaches being set on the porch of
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  the farmhouse. It was just before noon and Bert and Nan were having a
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  race to see who could sort the most peaches, when suddenly there arose a
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  great shouting outside the barn. What's that, exclaimed missus Bobbsey. Maybe somebody
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  else upset a load of peaches, suggested Bert. But Freddie, who was
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  near the open door of the barn, began to dance in excitement at something
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  he saw. They're running away. Oh, look at the runaways, he
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  cried. Are the horses running away, asked his father, for mister Watson
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  was using a team to haul wagon loads of peaches and from the orchard.
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  No, it isn't horses. It's cows. A lot of cows running away.
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  They're coming right into the barn too. Oh look, end of chapter sixteen.