`` I do get my history in the evening , but you could have it mornings before school . '' `` I shall have to go off early , so there wo n't be any chance . Yes , there will , -- I 'LL tell you how to do it . Let me read while I drive up the cows . Squire likes 'em to eat slow along the road , so 's to keep the grass short and save mowin ' . Pat said so , and I could do history instead of loafin ' round ! '' cried Ben full of this bright idea . `` How will I get my book back in time to recite ? '' asked Bab , prudently . `` Oh , I 'll leave it on the window-sill , or put it inside the door as I go back . I 'll be real careful , and just as soon as I earn enough , I 'll buy you a new one and take the old one . Will you ? '' `` Yes ; but I 'll tell you a nicer way to do . Do n't put the book on the window , 'cause teacher will see you ; or inside the door , 'cause some one may steal it . You put it in my cubby-house , right at the corner of the wall nearest the big maple . You 'll find a cunning place between the roots that stick up under the flat stone . That 's my closet , and I keep things there . It 's the best cubby of all , and we take turns to have it . '' `` I 'll find it , and that 'll be a first-rate place , '' said Ben , much gratified . `` I could put my reading-book in sometimes , if you 'd like it .
There 's lots of pretty stories in it and pictures , '' proposed Betty , rather timidly ; for she wanted to share the benevolent project , but had little to offer , not being as good a scholar as XXXXX .
Bab Ben Pat Squire before cubby-house evening loafin mowin window-sill