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"Washington!" exclaimed Cynthia. "When?" "N-now to-morrow." Then he added uneasily, "C-can't you get ready?" Cynthia laughed. "Why, I'll go to-night, Uncle Jethro," she answered. "Well," he said admiringly, "you hain't one of them clutterin' females. We can get some finery for you in New York, Cynthy. D-don't want any of them town ladies to put you to shame.
I wisht I'd staid at home. I c-can't w-whistle any longer," he whimpered aloud, dropping the candle-end, the last spark of courage oozing out of his nerveless fingers. He stood up, straining his eyes down the black gully and across the dreary waste around him. "Mr. T-o-o-be!" he called, feebly, and the wavering echoes of his voice came back to him mingled with an ominous sound.
There was a catch in the voice on the other end of the wire. "I c-can't answer any questions now, but bring Jim, and hurry!" The receiver clicked and I dashed out of the booth, a thousand questions pounding in my brain. Why was Helen at the house?
"You might have known he's too soft to be teased. . . . Oh, be quiet, do, Palmerston! Think of your namesake!" A bell jangled overhead. "Captain Hocken's bell! and the child's face all blubbered, which he hates to see, while as for Captain Hunken there! it that isn't his bell going too in the adjoining! Palmerston, pull yourself together and be a man." "I c-can't, missus," sobbed Palmerston.
"That's my secret," Kate replied, gently. "But it's yours to use as long as you need it." Without warning, Mrs. Toomey burst into tears. "I c-can't help it!" she sobbed on Kate's shoulder. "It's so unexpected."
Here Marjorie's sobs broke out afresh, and she really couldn't speak coherently. "Never mind," said Mrs. Maynard, gently, fearing the excitable child would fly into hysterics. "Never mind it to-night. Tell me about it to-morrow." "N-no, I w-want to tell you now, only, I c-can't talk. Oh, Mother, what shall I d-do? G-Gladys " "Yes, dear; Gladys, what did she do? Or perhaps you and Gladys " Mrs.
"If you please, sir," said Bianca, putting her head in at the door, "there's an old woman " He turned round fiercely. "What do you want here following me about?" "An old woman wishes to see you." "What does she want? Tell her I c-can't see her; I'm busy." "She has been coming nearly every evening since you went away, sir, always asking when you would come back." "Ask her w-what her business is.
"N-n-no, s-sor, I c-can't, an' the m-more you t-try to make me the w-w-wus I g-gits." "Well, then, come to the point, an' don't say more than's needful." "Y-y-yis, sor." "What's this man's name!" asked the chief, settling the bandages uneasily on his head with one hand, and pointing to Brixton with the other. "M-Muster T-T-Tom, sor." "That's his Christian name, I suppose?"
But if it would make you happier to talk to me about it, do. 'I c-can't talk about it, she sobbed. 'My poor pet!... Did it happen after you got here, or before? I felt her stiffen and grow tense, as at a dreadful memory. 'After.... But I was in my room; I wasn't there. 'You heard the fall, I suppose.... She shuddered, and nodded.
"I c-can't," said Betty in a muffled voice. "I guess " she added whimsically, "I guess I'm a little afraid of you, Lieutenant Allen Washburn." With a glad laugh Allen put his strong young arms about her. "Do you think you can keep on all your life being afraid of me like that?" he asked. "Little Betty?" And Betty, with the radiant joy of all youth in her heart, slowly nodded.