“Which way shall we go to-day?” said Harry, turning to the tutor, and at the same moment Bruce contrived to throw a significant glance at Laura, a glance which the young girl comprehended at once and which prompted her to exclaim “Oh, let’s follow this road along to where we were the other day, Harry, there’s a place there with lots of lovely flowers and there’s one tree that I don’t know the name of and I want to ask Mr. Reed what it is.”
“Very well,” rejoined the tutor pleasantly, “we’ll go where you say, Miss Laura,” and Bruce chuckled to himself, as he noticed how the quick-witted girl’s tact served his purpose.
They had not gone far before he contrived to fall behind the others with her for a moment, and whisper: “That’s just what I wanted; I came up here to go and see that Mr. Dexter, but I wouldn’t go until I had told you about it first; I’m going to ask him who that man is he was driving with the other day.”
Laura gave him a quick look which expressed her gratitude, and then said: “Be careful not to let Mr. Reed know that we ever talked about this Mr. Dexter before, because it would be awful if papa were to find out that we went as far through the gateway as we did that afternoon. When we get there, just tell him that you have an errand with an old gentleman who lives in the house, and we’ll walk along slowly while you’re inside. That’s the best way.”
That ended their conversation and a moment later Bruce and Harry had leaped the fence into an adjoining field, and were down on their knees in the grass hunting for mushrooms. Neither the tutor nor either of the children could distinguish the edible mushrooms from toadstools and other fungi, but Bruce, who had often gathered them near his country home, readily pointed out the difference in appearance and smell between the two. Mr. Reed seemed very much pleased with what the boy told him; for although he was thoroughly well versed in books and a most accomplished classical scholar and instructor, there were a great many things concerning everyday life of which he was ignorant, and it was plain to both of his young pupils that Bruce was rising rapidly in the tutor’s esteem. It was not long before they had gathered what the young country boy called “a good mess” of edible fungi, and when he had solemnly certified to the fact that there was not a toadstool in the whole lot, they were wrapped up in a bit of old newspaper and carefully hidden away in a cool, damp spot beside the very brook into which Harry had fallen the week before.