He did, for in less than
an hour he drove down our lane and put his horse in our barn.
He was all spruced up, and as nervous and excited as a schoolboy.
He went right over to Prissy, and I began to tuft my new comfort
with a clear conscience. I shall never know why it suddenly came
into my head to go up to the garret and make sure that the moths
hadn't got into my box of blankets; but I always believed that it
was a special interposition of Providence. I went up and happened
to look out of the east window; and there I saw Emmeline Strong
coming home across our pond field.
I just flew down those garret stairs and out through the birches.
I burst into the Strong kitchen, where Stephen and Prissy were sitting
as cozy as you please.
"Stephen, come quick! Emmeline's nearly here," I cried.
Prissy looked out of the window and wrung her hands.
"Oh, she's in the lane now," she gasped. "He can't get out of the house
without her seeing him. Oh, Rosanna, what shall we do?
I really don't know what would have become of those two people if I
hadn't been in existence to find ideas for them.
"Take Stephen up to the garret and hide him there, Prissy," I said firmly,
"and take him quick."
Prissy took him quick, but she had barely time to get back to the kitchen
before Emmeline marched in--mad as a wet hen because somebody had been
ahead of her offering to sit up with Jane Lawson, and so she lost
the chance of poking and prying into things while Jane was asleep.
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