Kate was so delighted she could have shouted.  Instead she went with all speed to the stationery counter and bought an envelope to fit the contract, which she signed, and writing a hasty note of thanks she mailed the letter in the store mail box, then began her mother’s purchases.  This took so much time that her father came into the store before she had finished, demanding that she hurry, so in feverish haste she bought what was wanted and followed to the buggy.  On the road home she began to study her father; she could see that he was well pleased over something but she had no idea what could have happened; she had expected anything from verbal wrath to the buggy whip, so she was surprised, but so happy over having secured such a good school, at higher wages than Nancy Ellen’s, that she spent most of her time thinking of herself and planning as to when she would go to Walden, where she would stay, how she would teach, and Oh, bliss unspeakable, what she would do with so much money; for two month’s pay would more than wipe out her indebtedness to Agatha, and by getting the very cheapest board she could endure, after that she would have over three fourths of her money to spend each month for books and clothes.  She was intently engaged with her side of the closet and her end of the bureau, when she had her first glimpse of home; even preoccupied as she was, she saw a difference.  Several loose pickets in the fence had been nailed in place.  The lilac beside the door and the cabbage roses had been trimmed, so that they did not drag over the walk, while the yard had been gone over with a lawn-mower.

Kate turned to her father.  “Well, for land’s sake!” she said.  “I wanted a lawn-mower all last summer, and you wouldn’t buy it for me.  I wonder why you got it the minute I was gone.”

“I got it because Nancy Ellen especially wanted it, and she has been a mighty good girl all summer,” he said.

“If that is the case, then she should be rewarded with the privilege of running a lawn-mower,” said Kate.

Her father looked at her sharply; but her face was so pleasant he decided she did not intend to be saucy, so he said:  “No doubt she will be willing to let you help her all you want to.”

“Not the ghost of a doubt about that,” laughed Kate, “and I always wanted to try running one, too.  They look so nice in pictures, and how one improves a place!  I hardly know this is home.  Now if we only had a fresh coat of white paint we could line up with the neighbours.”

“I have been thinking about that,” said Mr. Bates, and Kate glanced at him, doubting her hearing.

He noticed her surprise and added in explanation:  “Paint every so often saves a building.  It’s good economy.”

“Then let’s economize immediately,” said Kate.  “And on the barn, too.  It is even more weather-beaten than the house.”