Finally Mrs. Berry laughed. "H'm! Don't you see what
your father's up to?" she said.
"No, I don't. I'm scared."
"You needn't be. You ain't very cute. He's an old head. He thinks if
he has this cherry party for nothin' folks will overlook that other
affair, an' next year they'll buy the cherries again. Mebbe he thinks
they'll buy the other trees this year, after the party. How many
trees did he say you could have?"
"Four. Maybe that is it."
"Of course 'tis. Your father's an old head. Well, you'd better ask
'em. They won't see through it, and it'll make things pleasanter.
I've felt bad enough about it. I guess Mis' Thayer won't look down on
us quite so much if we ask a party here and let 'em eat cherries for
nothin'. It's more'n she'd do, I'll warrant."
"Maybe they won't any of them come," said Rose.
"H'm! Don't you worry about that. They'll come fast enough. I never
see any trouble yet about folks comin' to get anything good that they
didn't have to pay for."
Rose and her mother calculated how many to invite to the party. They
decided to include all the available young people in Pembroke.
"We might jest as well while we're about it," said Hannah,
judiciously. "There are cherries enough, and the Lord only knows when
your father 'll have another freak like this. I guess it's like an
eclipse of the sun, an' won't come again very soon.
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