"
"I surely am," said the parson, with another laugh, "and I thought I was
going to help so much," he added ruefully.
"How you can laugh," exclaimed Miss Jerusha sourly, at the good time in
progress, and sitting quite stiffly, "I don't for my part see."
"Oh, well, if you'd laugh more, it would be better for all of us, Jerusha,"
said her brother good-naturedly.
"I ain't a-goin' to laugh," declared Miss Jerusha, "and it's a wicked,
sinful shame to set such an example before those boys, like coddlin' up
that girl for keepin' them off playin'. I never see such goin's on!"
"We haven't been playing," said Peletiah stoutly.
"I told her so," said Ezekiel fretfully, seeing that his father had no more
monkey stories to offer, "but she keeps saying it just the same. I wish
she'd go off and play," he added vindictively.
The idea of Miss Jerusha ever having played, made Rachel turn in her chair
and regard her fixedly. Then she broke out into a laugh; it was such a
merry peal that presently the boys joined in, and even the parson and his
wife had hard work to keep their faces straight.
"Well, if I _ever_ see such goin's on!" Miss Jerusha shoved back her
chair and stalked out of the room.
"Did she ever play?" asked Rachel, when the door into the keeping-room had
slammed.
"Why, yes, of course, child," said Mrs. Henderson, with a smile, "when she
was a little girl.
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