said the saucy Annabel, in a reflective tone of voice, “is a reg’lar caution when she gets nervous; and she’s nervous most of the time.”
“Mrs. Williams was quite right,” said Will; “and it was lucky she sent me home, for I’d an awful lot of work to do, and that kite made me forget all about it.”
The bell rang just then, calling them in; but Reginald whispered to Will: “You’re a brick!” and Theodore shyly took his friend’s hand and pressed it within his own as they entered the doorway.
All this did much to warm Will Carden’s heart and restore to him his self-respect, which had been a little shattered by Mrs. Williams’ contemptuous treatment.
However disdainful of poverty some of the grown folks may be, children, if they are the right sort, are more apt to judge a comrade by his quality and merit, than by the amount of his worldly possessions. And Will decided the Williams children were “the right sort.”
CHAPTER IV
MEIGS, MUSHROOMS AND MONEY
“Will,” said Dr. Meigs, as he stopped one afternoon to lean over the garden fence, “how are things going?”
“Pretty well, Doctor,” answered the boy, cheerfully.
“Are you getting ahead, and laying by something for the winter months, when the vegetables won’t grow?”
“Were getting ahead some,” said Will, becoming grave; “but it’s always a struggle for us in the winter, you know. I guess I’ll try to get a job in the steel works in October. I’m pretty husky, for my age, and I ought to be able to earn fair wages.”
“Humph!” growled the doctor, frowning upon the young fellow fiercely. “You think you’ve had schooling enough, do you?”
“Oh, no! But mother needs help. She’s getting more tired and pale looking every day; and Egbert can’t do much with his bad arm. So it’s a case of force, Doctor. I’ve just got to dig in and do something.”
“That’s true,” replied the big doctor. “But you’re going to be more than a mere laboring man when you grow up, Will Carden, and I don’t mean to let you get into those beastly mills. They’d sap your young strength in no time, and make you an old man before your years would warrant it. No; we’ll think of something else. Read that!”
He thrust a small book into the boy’s hand and immediately marched away down the road.
Will looked at the book wonderingly. It was a treatise on mushroom culture; something he had never heard of before. But he spent his leisure during the next few days reading it carefully and the author told how a great deal of money could be made by raising mushrooms on a small plot of ground, under proper conditions and with intelligent care.
When again he saw Doctor Meigs Will said to him:
“Here’s your book, Doctor. It’s interesting, all right; but I can’t see how I could possibly do anything at that business.”
“Why not?” enquired the doctor, seating himself calmly by Will’s side, with the evident intention of arguing the question.
“In the first place,” said Will, “I’ve got no way to raise mushrooms. They need a warm spot of earth, to do well; and a rich soil, and plenty of shade.”
“Good!” said the doctor, nodding approval. “I see you’ve paid some attention to the matter. Well, that old barn of yours is just the place.”
“The barn!”
“Surely. I’ve just been examining it. It never was anything more than a shed, without even a floor; and for a long time, while Deacon Wilder owned this place, horses and cattle were kept there. The soil in that barn is two feet thick and very rich. It’ll grow mushrooms like sixty!”
“But it’s cold in the barn, in winter. The boards are falling off in places, and – ”
“We’ll patch it up,” said the doctor, with decision; “and we’ll put a heater in it – one of these regular green-house boilers, with hot-water pipes running under the surface of the ground, so as to keep the soil always warm. Firewood doesn’t cost much in this part of the country.”
Will smiled at such cheerful optimism.
“And when you’ve raised the things,” he said, “what are you going to do with them? The Bingham people wouldn’t buy ten cents’ worth of mushrooms in ten years.”
The doctor snorted contemptuously.
“The Bingham people! Do you think I’m a fool, Will Carden?”
“Who then?”
“Why, it’s only twenty-two miles to the city. There are four trains every day. In the city are a thousand customers longing to buy mushrooms, in season and out, and willing to pay big prices for them, too.”
Will whistled, thoughtfully.
“It’s a bigger thing than I expected,” he acknowledged. “But, Doctor, it’s out of the question. I wouldn’t dare risk our little savings in this experiment, and aside from what’s put by for the winter, I haven’t enough money to buy the spawn to start with; or patch up the barn; or buy the water heater; or even market the stuff when it’s grown.”
“Who said anything about your spending money?” demanded the doctor, roughly. “All I want of you, sir, is to hire out to me to raise mushrooms. I’m going into the business.”
“You!”
“Yes, me. Confound it, Will Carden, do you think I’ve no ambition, just because I’m a country doctor? My daughter, that married the wholesale grocer in the city has three children already, and they’ve got to be looked after.”
“Can’t the wholesale grocer do that?” asked Will, with twinkling eyes.
“I’ve a right to leave a fortune to my own grandchildren if I want to,” growled the doctor; “and it’s none of your business, anyway, young fellow. The question is, will you hire out to me? You and Egbert; I want the two of you. The wages will be small, but they’ll be sure – even if I have to collect some bills to pay them. And I’ll furnish all the capital needed to fix up the barn and start things going.”
Will fairly gasped with astonishment.
“Do you really mean it, Doctor,” he asked.
“I usually mean what I say,” was the gruff retort. “Now, then, answer me! And, by hookey, if you refuse I’ll charge you two dollars for this consultation! Doctors can’t waste their time for nothing.”
“If you mean it, Doctor, of course I’ll hire out to you; and so will Egbert.”
“It won’t interfere with your schooling, you know. You’ll have to get up early mornings, and perhaps some cold nights you won’t get much sleep, with tending the fires; but there’ll be plenty of time for you to go to school, and poor Egbert can study his deaf-and-dumb lessons in the shed as well as anywhere else, while you’re away.”
It must be mentioned here that Egbert had failed to learn to read and write at the village
