. Little helpers . suddenly red,Im not fit. I didnt wait to fix up — Im not a bit hungry!His distress was so evidently real, that Mrs. Leslie paused,half wray to the table. Ill compromise, she said, laughing, since you are tooproud to come in anything but full dress, you shall hide yourselfhere, and well pretend you didnt come in at all! She opened the door into the neat, cosey inner kitchen. Noone wras there, and Jim sat clown by the fire with a feeling of great relief. For dinner had just beenput on table, in the dining-room ; Tiny,in spotless white apron and shiningyellow curls, stood by he
. Little helpers . suddenly red,Im not fit. I didnt wait to fix up — Im not a bit hungry!His distress was so evidently real, that Mrs. Leslie paused,half wray to the table. Ill compromise, she said, laughing, since you are tooproud to come in anything but full dress, you shall hide yourselfhere, and well pretend you didnt come in at all! She opened the door into the neat, cosey inner kitchen. Noone wras there, and Jim sat clown by the fire with a feeling of great relief. For dinner had just beenput on table, in the dining-room ; Tiny,in spotless white apron and shiningyellow curls, stood by her chair, and hemurmured to himself, — Id a choked to death, first mouth-ful ! The dining-room door was not quite closed, and presently heheard Tiny saying, — Oh. please let me, mamma ! I want to —please !And then she came softly in with a tempting plate of dinner,which she set upon the table. There ! she said, theres some of everything there, exceptthe pudding, and Ill bring you that when wre have ours. Im. LITTLE HELPERS, 147 so glad you came to-day, because theres a Brown Betty. Ithink youd better sit this way, hadnt you? Then you can lookat the fire ; it looks nice, such a cold day. It was all said and done with such simple sweetness and good-will, that Jims defences gave way at once. Thank you, Miss Tiny, he said, with the grave politenesswhich never failed him when he spoke either to her or to hermother, and he sat clown at once in the place she had chosen —for worlds he would not have wounded that gentle spirit. Andhe found it no hardship, after all, to eat the dinner she hadbrought him ; what growing boy could have resisted it ? After dinner, when the comforting food had done more thanhe knew to put him in good-humor, Mrs. Leslie asked him manyquestions about Taffy, filling a basket as she talked, with jelly anddelicate rusks and oranges. A few of the questions were by wayof making sure that the place was a safeone for Johnny. She meant to go her-self, the next
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjanviermargaretthomso, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880
