Part 12

So it happened that he was not thinking of his new clothes when Mrs. Potter came to the kitchen door.

“Well, for the land's sake, Peter Lane,” she cried, while Buddy clung to his neck and Susie clung around one leg, “it's about time! I thought you never _was_ cornin'. I been waitin' here for you, with these two fatherless children--”

From the kitchen came the rackety-banging of the alarm-clock, proving that, as the clock was set to ring at six, Peter had found a mother for the fatherless children at just seventeen minutes past three.

“If it wouldn't annoy you too much to get married, Mrs. Potter,” said Peter, gasping at his own temerity, and wiping his forehead on the sleeve of his new coat, “I can--I could--we'd have quite a nice little family to start off with right away.”

“Annoy me? Is that what you call a proposal to marry me, Peter Lane?” asked Mrs. Potter scornfully. “Ain't you ever goin' to be able to talk up like a man!”

“Yes, I am,” snapped Peter. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, I will!” snapped the Widow Potter.

THE END

End of Project Gutenberg's The Jack-Knife Man, by Ellis Parker Butler