Nancy was piloted from one place to another. She saw the new chicken houses which were being built and the incubators. But the thing which pleased her the most was the realization that Allie and Grace were happy in their work.
“Well, I must be getting back to River Heights,” she remarked after a time.
“Oh, you can’t go yet!” Allie interposed with a quick glance at her sister. “You tell her, Grace.”
“We asked you here today for a special reason,” Grace began a trifle awkwardly. “You see, we’ve been thinking for a long time that we’ve never done a thing to show our appreciation for what you did. We’ve talked with the others and everyone is agreed that we should reward—”
“Oh, I don’t want a reward,” Nancy broke in. “I wanted to help. And, anyway, it was fun for me.”
“But we wanted to do something really handsome,” Allie cried in disappointment. “It doesn’t seem fair not to give you a reward.”
“There’s one way you can reward me if you really want to,” Nancy said after a little hesitation.
“How?” Allie and Grace demanded in one breath.
“Well, it may sound silly, but I would like to have the Crowley clock for my very own.”
“And is that all you want?” Grace questioned in disappointment. “We’ll be glad to give you a hundred clocks if you will only take them.”
“Just the old Crowley clock—that’s all I care for. And if you particularly want it yourself—”