One Sunday Mrs.
Harling took the long ride out to the Shimerdas' with Frances. She said
she wanted to see "what the girl came from" and to have a clear
understanding with her mother. I was in our yard when they came driving
home, just before sunset. They laughed and waved to me as they passed, and
I could see they were in great good humor. After supper, when grandfather
set off to church, grandmother and I took my short cut through the willow
hedge and went over to hear about the visit to the Shimerdas.
We found Mrs. Harling with Charley and Sally on the front porch, resting
after her hard drive. Julia was in the hammock--she was fond of repose--and
Frances was at the piano, playing without a light and talking to her
mother through the open window.
Mrs. Harling laughed when she saw us coming. "I expect you left your
dishes on the table to-night, Mrs. Burden," she called. Frances shut the
piano and came out to join us.
They had liked Antonia from their first glimpse of her; felt they knew
exactly what kind of girl she was. As for Mrs. Shimerda, they found her
very amusing. Mrs. Harling chuckled whenever she spoke of her. "I expect I
am more at home with that sort of bird than you are, Mrs. Burden. They're
a pair, Ambrosch and that old woman!"
They had had a long argument with Ambrosch about Antonia's allowance for
clothes and pocket-money.
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