For a few minutes Mrs. Andrews sat perfectly still, staring straight before her. Then she roused to action, sprang from the waggon and fairly dragged down the children. Thanking the driver for his kindness, she headed straight toward the house without once looking back. Jess and Belle rounded up the boys and marched them to the back door. By this time the two urchins of the night were down from the tree, eager to make friends with the new-comers. Leaving the five in the yard, the girls followed Mrs. Andrews into the house. Seating herself upon a chair in the kitchen, the troubled woman began to fan herself furiously with a copy of _The Family Herald and Weekly Star_. Her face was a study. An expression of anger and consternation was depicted there, her lips quivered and she was evidently making a great effort to control herself. Seeing this, Jess’ sympathy was aroused, and stepping quickly forward, she placed her arms lovingly about her mother’s neck.
"There, mother dear," she soothed, "don’t feel so badly. There has been some mistake, I am sure."
"Mistake! How could there be any mistake? Your father must have planned to bring these boys here while I was away."
"Oh, no, he didn’t," Jess explained. "They dropped upon him last night." Then she related the story as her father had told it to her the night before.
Mrs. Andrews said nothing for a while when Jess was through, but sat lost in thought.
"I wonder why Abner hasn’t come back," she at length remarked. "He has had plenty of time to hunt for me all over town."
"Perhaps he is afraid to come," Jess suggested.
"Afraid to come!" Mrs. Andrews exclaimed in astonishment.
"Oh, I see," and Mrs. Andrews looked meaningly at her daughter. "I guess we’re quits, then, for I was really afraid to meet him."
A merry ringing laugh from Belle followed this candid confession. The humorous side of the situation had appealed to her from the moment of Mrs. Andrews’ arrival with the three boys. There was nothing tragic about it to her, as she had no idea of the straitened circumstances of the Andrews’ household. It had never dawned upon her what a struggle Mr. and Mrs. Andrews had made to eke out a precarious living from their gravel hill of a farm, and to keep Jess at the Seminary. Had she known this, and what an addition of five children would mean, she would have seen nothing amusing in the situation. It was as well, however, that she did not know at this critical moment, for her merriment dispelled the clouds, causing Jess to laugh, and the semblance of a smile to lurk about the corners of Mrs. Andrews’ mouth.