“Oh, Jonathan! We never asked them what time it was!” I said. “I meant to—for your sake—I thought you’d sleep better if you knew.”
“Too bad! Probably I should have. I thought of it, of course, but was afraid that if I asked it would spoil your day.”
“It would take something pretty bad to spoil a day like this one,” I said.
Two days later the weather turned still and warm, the bass refused to bite, and even the sunfish lay, shy or wary or indifferent, in their shallow, sunny pools, so we resolved to walk down the river to the post-office, four miles away, for possible mail. As we sat on the steps of the little store, looking it over,—“Here’s news,” said Jonathan; “Jack and Molly say they’ll run up if we want them, day after to-morrow—up on the morning train, and back on the evening.”
“No—it’s to-morrow—letter’s been here since yesterday. I’ll telegraph.”
As we tramped home we planned the day. “We’ll meet them and all walk up together,” said Jonathan.
“We’d better catch some bass and leave them all hooked in a pool, ready for them to pull out,” I added; “otherwise they may not catch any. And maybe you’d better meet them and I’ll have dinner ready when you get back.”
“Nonsense! You come, and we’ll all get dinner when we get back. That’s what they’re coming for—to see the whole thing.”
“But if it’s late—they’ve got to get back for that down train.”
“Oh, Jonathan! What about catching that train?”
“But what about our meeting them? The train arrives at 10:15, they said. What does 10:15 look like in the sky, I wonder!”
“Or rather, what does 8.45 look like? It takes an hour and a half to get there, counting crossing the river.”
“Yes—dear me! Well, Jonathan, we’ll just have to get up early and go, and then wait.”
“Or else take our watch to the farmhouse and set it.”
“Jonathan, I will not! I’d rather start at daylight.”
Which was very nearly what we did. The morning opened with a sun obscured, and I felt sure it was stealing a march on us and would suddenly burst out upon us from a noonday sky. We breakfasted hastily, ferried across to shore, and set a swinging pace down the road. As we walked, the sun burned through the mist, and our shadows came out, dim, long things, striding with the exaggerated gait that shadows have, over the grassy banks to our right.