Where's Nora? by Sarah Orne Jewett

The summer was not ended before all the railroad men knew about Johnny / O'Callahan's wedding and all his good fortune. They boarded at the / Ryans' at first, but late in the evenings Johnny and his wife were at / work, building as if they were birds. First, there was a shed with a / broad counter for the cakes, and a table or two, and the boys did not / fail to notice that Nora had a good sisterly work-basket ready, and was / quick to see that a useful button was off or a stitch needed. The next / fortnight saw a room added to this, where Nora had her own stove, and / cooking went on steadily. Then there was another room with white / muslin curtains at the windows, and scarlet-runner beans made haste to / twine themselves to a line of strings for shade. Johnny would unload a / few feet of clean pine boards from the freight train, and within a day / or two they seemed to be turned into a wing of the small castle by some / easy magic. The boys used to lay wagers and keep watch, and there was / a cheer out of the engine-cab and all along the platforms one day when / a tidy sty first appeared and a neat pig poked his nose through the / fence of it. The buns and biscuits grew famous; customers sent for / them from the towns up and down the long railroad line, and the story / of thrifty, kind-hearted little Nora and her steady young husband was / known to a surprising number of persons. When the branch road was / begun, Nora and Johnny took a few of their particular friends to board, / and business was further increased. On Sunday they always went into / town to mass and visited their uncles and aunts and Johnny's sister. / Nora never said that she was tired, and almost never was cross. She / counted her money every Saturday night, and took it to Uncle Patsy to / put into the bank.

She had long talks about her mother with Uncle / Patsy, and he always wrote home for her when she had no time. Many a / pound went across the sea in the letters, and so another summer came; / and one morning when Johnny's train stopped, Nora stood at the door of / the little house and held a baby in her arms for all the boys to see. / She was white as a ghost and as happy as a queen. "I 'll be making the / buns again pretty soon," she cried cheerfully. "Have courage, boys; 't / won't be long first; this one 'll be selling them for me on the Flying / Aigle, don't you forget it! " And there was a great ringing of the / engine-bell a moment after, when the train started.