`` You 'll come back to see us some time again , wo n't you ? '' `` Perhaps , '' smiled Ethel , `` and if not , Agnes , you must come and see me . Some day I may tell you a secret . '' About a week later Young Si suddenly vanished , and his disappearance was a nine-day 's talk along shore . His departure was as mysterious as his advent . It leaked out that he had quietly disposed of his boat and shanty to Snuffy Curtis , sent his mackerel off and , that done , slipped from the Pointers ' lives , never more to re-enter them . Little Ev was the last of the Pointers to see him tramping along the road to the station in the dusk of the autumn twilight . And the next morning Agnes Bentley , going out of doors before the others , found on the doorstep a basket containing a small , vociferous black kitten with a card attached to its neck . A Fortunate Mistake `` Oh , dear ! oh , dear ! '' fretted Nan Wallace , twisting herself about uneasily on the sofa in her pretty room . `` I never thought before that the days could be so long as they are now . '' `` Poor you ! '' said her sister Maude sympathetically . Maude was moving briskly about the room , putting it into the beautiful order that Mother insisted on . It was Nan 's week to care for their room , but Nan had sprained her ankle three days ago and could do nothing but lie on the sofa ever since . And very tired of it , too , was wide-awake , active Nan . `` And the picnic this afternoon , too ! '' she sighed . `` I 've looked forward to it all summer .
And it 's a perfect day -- and I 've got XXXXX stay here and nurse this foot . ''
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