She stood in the door with them so long that John Jay was in bed by the
time she came in. Although he pretended to be asleep, inwardly he was in
a quiver of excitement.
"I'll count 'em every night," he thought. The wish that burned in his
little heart was a very earnest one, fraught with hopes for his coming
birthday.
CHAPTER V.
Late hours did not agree with John Jay. Next morning he felt too tired
to stir. He groaned when he remembered that it was Sunday, for he
thought of the long, hot walk down to Brier Crook church. To his great
surprise, Mammy did not insist on his going with her: she had been
offered a seat in a neighbor's spring-wagon, and there was no room for
him.
So he spent a long, lazy morning, stretched out in the shade of the
apple-tree. A smell of clover and ripening orchards filled the heated
air. The hens clucked around drowsily with drooping wings. A warm breeze
stirred the grasses where he lay.
Ivy dug in the dirt with a broken spoon, while Bud kicked up his heels
beside John Jay, listening to a marvellous account of Miss Hallie's
party.
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