" stammered the little boy. "But I want to go
somewhere awfully."

"Couldn't you go, too, Muddie?" suggested Meg.

"Listen, and I'll tell you what we've planned," said Mother Blossom.
"Aunt Polly has to go back to-morrow. We've tried to persuade her to
stay, but it seems the summer is a very bad time to be away from a
farm. But a week from to-morrow, if you are all very good and help me
as much as you can, I will take you to Brookside to visit Aunt Polly
for a month, or as long as she can stand four active youngsters in her
quiet house."

"Hurrah!" shouted the four little Blossoms.

"Won't that be great! Let's get the trunk down right away, Mother."

"Well, I wouldn't, not till Daddy comes home," said Aunt Polly,
fanning herself and smiling. "A week is plenty of time, and I hear
that Dot has to have some new frocks made."

"Is Daddy coming?" Bobby asked suddenly.

"I wanted him to, for I think he needs a rest," said Aunt Polly
soberly. "But the most we could get him to promise was that he might
come up with your mother when it is time for you to go home."

"Mother's going--she said so," Meg reminded her aunt.

"Only to take you to Brookside, Daughter," explained Mother Blossom.
"Then I am coming home again to stay with Daddy. You see, I couldn't
leave him alone in this house for a whole month. Think how lonesome he
would be."

Twaddles thought this over for a moment.

"Well, I guess it will be a change for him, 'thout any children," he
remarked, with a sunny smile.

Aunt Polly scooped him into her lap and gave him a big hug.

"Now where in the world did you get that idea?" she said.

"I found it," confided Twaddles cheerfully.

Dot had already disappeared. She thought it time to begin her packing.
Presently they heard her in the house tumbling books out of the
bookcase on to the polished floor.

"Glory be, whatever are ye doing?" came Norah's cry. "Haven't I enough
to be doing, without ye upsetting a room as fast as I put it in
order?"

CHAPTER IV

THE WILLING PACKERS

Meg rushed into the house.

"Dot Blossom, you're not to touch my books," she scolded. "The idea!
Why don't you fuss with your own things?"

Dot looked vexed.

"I'm helping you," she explained. "Don't you want to take your books
to Aunt Polly's to read rainy days? Well, then, I'll pack 'em for
you."

Mother Blossom had followed Meg, and now she intervened.

"No one is to pack anything to-day," she said firmly. "I wa