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At length, all was arranged, and the key given over to Kester. As they passed out into the storm, Sylvia said to Hester, 'Thou's a real good wench. Thou's fitter to be about mother than me. I'm but a cross-patch at best, an' now it's like as if I was no good to nobody.
She was an old cross-patch, of course, they told him, or else she would not live alone on the edge of a forest, with nobody but a cat and owls for company. "Perhaps she would be glad to have some one better for company," Gabriel replied. "Go live with her, yourself, then, Gabriel," said one of the boys tauntingly. "That's right!
"I dare say he won't die," said Alan, feigning a cheerfulness he did not feel. "The first thing to do is to get him warm. Where's the nearest house?" "The Low Farm is the nearest," said Marjory doubtfully, "if Mrs. Shaw " "Will let us in to make a mess of her kitchen," finished Alan. "She is a bit of a cross-patch, but we'll make her let us in.
The old man was a good, kind-hearted, hard-working old fellow, but his wife was a regular cross-patch, who spoiled the happiness of her home by her scolding tongue. She was always grumbling about something from morning to night. The old man had for a long time ceased to take any notice of her crossness.
The owl, which lured the crows and other birds of prey, was fastened on a perch, and when they flew up, often in large flocks, to tease the old cross-patch which sat blinking angrily, they were shot down from loop-holes which had been left in the hut. The hawks which prey upon doves and hares, the crows and magpies, can thus easily be decimated. We had learned to use our guns in the playground.
"We'll bring her in to call on you," promised the Ethels, saying "Good-bye," and they went on feeling far more gently disposed toward their cross-patch neighbors than they ever had before. As for the "cross-patches," they looked after the carriage as long as it was in sight. When the girls returned to Dorothy's they found Edward Watkins there.
"Oh, nonsense, Elsie," was the impetuous reply. "I must sing and dance my joy, it's such a splendid opportunity. Why shouldn't I crow over the nasty proud thing? She needs somebody to ruffle her, and I can do that part better than any one else in the school. You don't mind my having a little fun, do you, Nellie? she's such a cross-patch, you know."
"Well, I'm goin' to read your old letter for you, if you'll just gi' me time," remonstrated Maria. "What are you in such a hurry for, old cross-patch? Le' me see: "Headquarters, Co. Q, 200th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. "Chattanooga, Tenn., Nov. 20, 1863. "Sergeant Josiah Klegg. "Dear Klegg: I have not heard from you since you left, but I am going to hope that you are getting well right along.
When the little thing is gentle and good, then I call her 'Pussy. That is not always the case, however, and 'Puss' does for some of her moods; but when she is angry, and looks like a regular cross-patch, then I call her 'Old Cat." "Yes, yes, Otto," answered his sister; and when you are angry, you look like a like a"
But I can away no more with Dame Sloggett, and Cross-patch Rachel, white seam and salmon, and plain collars. So I bade her farewell at the end of the year, and I've got a new mistress." Stead stood with open mouth. To change service at the end of a year was barely creditable in those days, and to do so without consultation with home was unkind and alarming. "There now, don't be crooked about it.
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