Page:Mistress Madcap Surrenders (1926).pdf/234

 The girls shook their heads.

"We received word yesterday morn, 'Moody is out! went on the old man slowly. "It did not take us lang to pack oor wee bit o' goods and gae! Mither set her geese free, hopin' they wad stray! I see only the gander, though, so I fear t'others be missin'! Mither," he addressed his old wife, who came out the door just then, "see aught o' yer geese?"

He did not offer to search for them as, immediately worried, the old lady shaded her eyes with her hand and looked around. As she stepped into the yard, she glanced at his nonchalant attitude.

"I was jes' sae pleased, John—nothin's been touched in the house. All that's missin' be your paintin' f'r the Horse's Neck Tavern!" she said innocently.

Old Master Wright, who had remained entirely complacent at his wife's loss, darted into the house. "Nay—my paintin'! My bonnie paintin'! Woe is me!" The girls heard him wail.

"It do make a wee bit o' difference whose the loss be around here," observed his wife unsympathetically. "He cared nowt aboot ma geese! What"—she stopped and stared at the gander, who had ventured near her at that moment—"what be that around the fowl's leg?"

Mehitable giggled. "We were about to find out when you came, Mistress Wright," she ex-