Several loose pickets in the fence had been nailed in place.

The lilac beside the door and the cabbage roses had been trimmed, so that they did not drag over the walk, while the yard had been gone over with a lawn-mower.
Kate turned to her father.

"Well, for land's sake!" she said.

"I wanted a lawn-mower all last summer, and you wouldn't buy it for me.

I wonder why you got it the minute I was gone." "I got it because Nancy Ellen especially wanted it, and she has been a mighty good girl all summer," he said.
"If that is the case, then she should be rewarded with the privilege of running a lawn-mower," said Kate.
Her father looked at her sharply; but her face was so pleasant he decided she did not intend to be saucy, so he said: "No doubt she will be willing to let you help her all you want to." "Not the ghost of a doubt about that," laughed Kate, "and I always wanted to try running one, too.