hair off his hot forehead.
“You are no end good to me, and I can’t ever thank you enough,
but it just isn’t the same, is it?” and Dan looked up at her with a
wistful, hungry look that went to her heart.
“No, dear, it is not the same, and never can be. I think an own
mother would have been a great deal to you. But as that cannot be,
you must try to let me fill her place. I fear I have not done all I
ought, or you would not want to leave me,” she added, sorrowfully.
“Yes, you have!” cried Dan, eagerly. “I don’t want to go, and I
won’t go, if I can help it; but every now and then I feel as if I must
burst out somehow. I want to run straight ahead somewhere, to
smash something, or pitch into somebody. Don’t know why, but I
do, and that’s all about it.”
Dan laughed as he spoke, but he meant what he said, for he knit
his black brows, and brought down his fist on the ledge with such
force, that Mrs. Jo’s thimble flew off into the grass. He brought it
back, and as she took it she held the big, brown hand a minute,
saying, with a look that showed the words cost her something
“Well, Dan, run if you must, but don’t run very far; and come back
to me soon, for I want you very much.”
He was rather taken aback by this unexpected permission to play
truant, and somehow it seemed to lessen his desire to go. He did
not understand why, but Mrs. Jo did, and, knowing the natural
perversity of the human mind, counted on it to help her now. She
felt instinctively that the more the boy was restrained the more he
would fret against it; but leave him free, and the mere sense of
liberty would content him, joined to the knowledge that his
presence was dear to those whom he loved best. It was a little
experiment, but it succeeded, for Dan stood silent a moment,
unconsciously picking the fan to pieces and turning the matter over
in his mind. He felt that she appealed to his heart and his honor,
and owned that he understood it by saying presently, with a
mixture of regret and resolution in his face,
“I won’t go yet awhile, and I’ll give you fair warning before I bolt.
That’s fair, isn’t it?”
“Yes, we will let it stand so. Now, I want to see if I can’t find some
way for you to work off your steam better than running about the
place like a mad dog, spoiling my fans, or fighting with the boys.
What can we invent?” and while Dan tried to repair the mischief
he had done, Mrs. Jo racked her brain for some new device to keep
her truant safe until he had learned to love his lessons better.
“How would you like to be my express-man?” she said, as a sudden
thought popped into her head.
“Go into town, and do the errands?” asked Dan, looking interested
at once.
“Yes; Franz is tired of it, Silas cannot be spared just now, and Mr.
Bhaer has no time. Old Andy is a safe horse, you are a good driver,
and know your way about the city as well as a postman. Suppose
you try it, and see if it won’t do most as well to drive away two or
three times a week as to run away once a month.”
“I’d like it ever so much, only I must go alone and do it all myself.
I don’t want any of the other fellows bothering round,” said Dan,
taking to the new idea so kindly that he began to put on business
airs already.
“If Mr. Bhaer does not object you shall have it all your own way. I
suppose Emil will growl, but he cannot be trusted with horses, and
you can. By the way, to-morrow is market-day, and I must make
out my list. You had better see that the wagon is in order, and tell
Silas to have the fruit and vegetables ready for mother. You will