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16 - Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank by Laura Lee Hope · Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank

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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot Org. The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank by Laura
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  Speaker 1: Lee Hope the Runaways. Shall we go in, asked Nan
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  Speaker 1: of her brother in a whisper, after they had stood
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  Speaker 1: outside the door a few moments, listening to the voices
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  Speaker 1: within the room. Well, I guess so, yes, he replied.
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  Speaker 1: Then as he listened and heard the sound of laughter
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  Speaker 1: mingled with the talking, he began to believe that, after all,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Martin had only called in a friendly way and
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  Speaker 1: not to get the baby again. Sure, let's go in,
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  Speaker 1: said Bert, followed by Flossy and Freddy, who did not
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  Speaker 1: understand very much about why the other two had delayed.
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  Speaker 1: The twins entered the room where the old lady who
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  Speaker 1: had acted so strangely about Baby May was seated. Missus
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  Speaker 1: Bobbsey and Missus Watson were also there, and so was
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  Speaker 1: Baby Jenny, who was being held by the old lady.
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  Speaker 1: Well hear the lost twins, exclaimed Missus b with a
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  Speaker 1: laugh as her four entered. Lost. We weren't lost, said
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  Speaker 1: Bert in some surprise. I know I was only joking.
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  Speaker 1: His mother told him you were gone a long time,
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  Speaker 1: and while you are away, this friend of yours called,
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  Speaker 1: and she motioned to missus Martin. Do you remember me,
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  Speaker 1: my DearS, asked missus Martin, nodding at each of the
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  Speaker 1: Bobbsey twins in turn. Oh yes, ma'am, answered Nan politely.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Martin could tell that the children were just a
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  Speaker 1: little bit afraid of her. It really was no wonder,
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  Speaker 1: for she had acted very strangely in leaving baby Jenny
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  Speaker 1: in a basket on the Bobbseys steps during a storm,
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  Speaker 1: and later stealing the baby away again. Of course, afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: as you know if you've read the book, everything came
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  Speaker 1: out all right. I'm all right now, the old lady said,
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  Speaker 1: For she guessed that Bert and the others were looking
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  Speaker 1: at her curiously. You needn't be afraid of me, my DearS.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not going to take this darling baby away any more.
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  Speaker 1: I just came to pay a little visit to her,
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  Speaker 1: but I didn't expect to find the Bobbsey twins here.
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  Speaker 1: We're glad to see you, was Bert's polite remark. And
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  Speaker 1: we're glad you're better, added Nan. But you look sort
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  Speaker 1: of sort of different, said Freddie. She looks like now,
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  Speaker 1: like the grandmother in Red riding Hood, Glassie said, After
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  Speaker 1: a little hesitation over the matter, everyone laughed and Missus
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  Speaker 1: Martin said, it's my glasses, I guess. Always up until
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  Speaker 1: a week ago, I used the kind of glasses that
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  Speaker 1: pinch on your nose, she told Missus Bobbsey and Missus Watson.
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  Speaker 1: Then my eyes began to get worse, and I went
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  Speaker 1: to the doctor, who said I needed different glasses, and
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  Speaker 1: he wrote out the kind I should get on a paper.
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  Speaker 1: I took it to a shop and they made me
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  Speaker 1: these glasses that fasten over my ears and stay on
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  Speaker 1: better than the nose kind, and I can see ever
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  Speaker 1: so much better. I think it must be my glasses
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  Speaker 1: that makes me appear strange to the children. Yes, I
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  Speaker 1: guess it is, said Nan. I never saw you with
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  Speaker 1: glasses on before. Well, I hope you will get used
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  Speaker 1: to them, my dear, and like me, went on Missus Martin,
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  Speaker 1: I am quite proud of these glasses. I hope nothing
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  Speaker 1: happens to them, she said anxiously if they get broken
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  Speaker 1: or I lost them. I could hardly see it. All
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  Speaker 1: my eyes have changed. So I am getting old, I guess,
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  Speaker 1: she said, with a sigh. But then we all have
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  Speaker 1: to do that. Even baby Jenny is older than when
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  Speaker 1: I so foolishly took her away and left her on
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  Speaker 1: your steps, she told Missus Bobbsey. Yes, and my twins
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  Speaker 1: are growing up too, said their mother. Though sometimes when
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  Speaker 1: they act foolishly fall into brooks and ride on hayforks,
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  Speaker 1: I fear they are growing younger instead of older, she
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  Speaker 1: concluded with a laugh. They can't be young, but once,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Martin said, as she took off her glasses to
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  Speaker 1: wipe them on a piece of soap she carried in
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  Speaker 1: her pocket. Baby Jenny had reached up and put her
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  Speaker 1: fingers on the glass, making a blurred place. No, they
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  Speaker 1: can't be young, but once More's the pity. Have all
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  Speaker 1: the fun you can when you are little, she advised
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  Speaker 1: the children. I guess you don't need to tell them that,
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  Speaker 1: said their mother. Flossie and Freddy went into the yard
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  Speaker 1: to play. Bert and Nan, after having talked a while
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  Speaker 1: longer with Missus Martin, also left the room. Later they
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  Speaker 1: learned that Missus Martin had come to stay a week
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  Speaker 1: or two with her cousin, Missus Watson. That evening, after supper,
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  Speaker 1: the Bopsey twins made up their minds that they were
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  Speaker 1: going to like Missus Martin very much, for she gathered
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  Speaker 1: them about her after the evening's play and told them
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  Speaker 1: some fine stories. Even Bert, who liked out of door
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  Speaker 1: games more than he did books, was interested in the
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  Speaker 1: tales the old lady told. Did somebody tell you that story?
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  Speaker 1: Asked Freddy, after the ending of one he had liked
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  Speaker 1: very much. No, my dear, I read it in a book,
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  Speaker 1: was the answer. And now that I have my new
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  Speaker 1: glasses I can read. Had a lot more stories to
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  Speaker 1: tell you. That's good, said Flossie. I hope nothing happens
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  Speaker 1: to your glasses, Missus Martin. I hope not myself, she said.
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  Speaker 1: If I lost them or broke them, I would have
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  Speaker 1: hard work to replace them, especially out here at Cloverbank.
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  Speaker 1: Then I couldn't read any more. The next day was
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  Speaker 1: a rainy one, the first the children had met with
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  Speaker 1: since coming to Cloverbank, though as you remember, they had
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  Speaker 1: arrived in a hard shower. At first, the twins were
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  Speaker 1: rather disappointed when they awakened and heard the drizzling downpour,
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  Speaker 1: for they had planned a picnic in the woods. But
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  Speaker 1: Missus Bobbsey, seeing their unhappy faces, laughed and said, this
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  Speaker 1: is just the kind of day to play. In the attic.
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  Speaker 1: There was a bookcase in the attic, and in it
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  Speaker 1: Nan found some old children's books that had belonged to
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  Speaker 1: Missus Watson's mother when she was a little girl. And
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  Speaker 1: such funny, funny stories about such very proper little girls
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  Speaker 1: I never before read, Nan told her mother. Afterwards. There
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  Speaker 1: were trunks full of old clothes and flossy dressed up
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  Speaker 1: in these. There were some ropes, too, and the boys
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  Speaker 1: fastened these to the rafters, and did or Bert did,
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  Speaker 1: and Freddy tried to do all sorts of acrobatic tricks.
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  Speaker 1: There was old furniture, and chairs and tables were pulled
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  Speaker 1: out and made to do for a house, a steamboat,
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  Speaker 1: and a train of cars in turn. After dinner, Missus
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  Speaker 1: Watson pleaded with Missus Bobbsey that the boys be permitted
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  Speaker 1: to put on overalls and the girls old dresses and
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  Speaker 1: run out in the rain to play. Missus Bobbsey thought
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  Speaker 1: the children might catch cold, but Missus Watson laughed and
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  Speaker 1: said that such a warm summer rain would never hurt
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  Speaker 1: running children if they came in and dried themselves as
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  Speaker 1: soon as they stopped playing. So out in the falling
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  Speaker 1: rain rushed Nan and Bert Freddy and Flossy, and such
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  Speaker 1: a game of tag as they had, the smaller twins
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  Speaker 1: not always being caught either. Then came a jolly game
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  Speaker 1: of puss once a corner with trees for corners. After
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  Speaker 1: this they went in the house again, and after putting
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  Speaker 1: on dry clothing, went back to the attic for the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the afternoon. Before the Bobbsey twins knew it,
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  Speaker 1: the rainy day had passed and night had come. They
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  Speaker 1: had spent many happy hours in the attic and running
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  Speaker 1: about in the rain. Then came an evening story by
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  Speaker 1: missus Martin, and soon it was bedtime, even for the
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  Speaker 1: older twins, Bert and Nan. Well, I'm glad to see
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  Speaker 1: the sun, said Missus Watson the next morning after breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: I was afraid it was going to rain and I
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  Speaker 1: couldn't get the rest of my peaches picked. But this
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  Speaker 1: is a fine day. As soon as the orchard had
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  Speaker 1: dried up a little, the men and women peach gatherers appeared,
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  Speaker 1: and soon they were the same busy scenes that the
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  Speaker 1: visitors had observed when they first came to Cloverbank. As
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  Speaker 1: more pickers came to work than he expected, mister Watson
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  Speaker 1: soon found that a great quantity of fruit was gathered
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  Speaker 1: in the barn to be sorted, and this must be
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  Speaker 1: done quickly so the baskets could be hurried to the
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  Speaker 1: market to be sold. I'll come out and help you, sore,
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  Speaker 1: offered mister Bobbsey, who had returned from his trip to
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  Speaker 1: the city. So will I, his wife said, we will too,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Nan and Bert. The small twins offered their services,
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  Speaker 1: but as it was doubtful whether or not they could
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  Speaker 1: tell the choice fruit from that intended for the nearby
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  Speaker 1: canning factory, their mother decided they had better play about
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  Speaker 1: the barn while the others sorted. The barn was soon
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  Speaker 1: a busy place, with a small truck and wagon bringing
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  Speaker 1: in the fruit from the orchard, and the sorders picking
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  Speaker 1: out the different grades. The whole place had a most
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  Speaker 1: delightful perfume about it from the crushed peaches, for in
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  Speaker 1: spite of care, some would fall and be bruised, quickly
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  Speaker 1: getting soft. Burt and Nan soon learned to do good
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  Speaker 1: work at the sorting bins, watching what the expert workers did,
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  Speaker 1: and mister Watson, pausing near them once or twice, said
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  Speaker 1: they were doing very well. Missus Bobbsey knowing a lot
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  Speaker 1: about peaches, for she had canned many of them, was
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  Speaker 1: able to work with the best of 'em. Nor was
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  Speaker 1: mister Bobbsey far behind. I'm glad you Bobbsey folks came
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  Speaker 1: out to Cloverbank, chuckled the farmer during a lull in
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  Speaker 1: the work. I never had such a big crop of
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  Speaker 1: peaches before, and good workers are scarce. We're working hard
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  Speaker 1: for our board, Missus Bobbsey said with a laugh. And
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  Speaker 1: that reminds me. Mister Watson, your wife said she would
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  Speaker 1: like you to send a few baskets of peaches to
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  Speaker 1: the house, as some friends of hers are going to
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  Speaker 1: stop for them during the day. I'll have Zeke take
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  Speaker 1: out some ripe ones, was the answer, and this was done,
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  Speaker 1: the baskets of peaches being set on the porch of
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  Speaker 1: the farmhouse. It was just before noon and Bert and
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  Speaker 1: Nan were having a race to see who could sort
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  Speaker 1: the most peaches, when suddenly there arose a great shouting
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  Speaker 1: outside the barn. What's that, exclaimed missus Bobbsey. Maybe somebody
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  Speaker 1: else upset a load of peaches, suggested Bert. But Freddie,
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  Speaker 1: who was near the open door of the barn, began
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  Speaker 1: to dance in excitement at something he saw. They're running away. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: look at the runaways, he cried, Are the horses running away?
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  Speaker 1: Asked his father for mister Watson was using a team
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  Speaker 1: to haul wagonloads of peaches in from the orchard. No,
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  Speaker 1: it isn't horses. It's cows. A lot of cows running away.
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  Speaker 1: They're coming right into the barn too. I'll look. End
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  Speaker 1: of chapter sixteen.