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Updated: June 28, 2025
Then he said quietly, "I don't blame you, Little-sing, not one bit. But we've got to punish this girl. To-morrow I shall be busy in town. The day after will be Friday, and I shall be busy then; but on Saturday we'll take a half-holiday and go to visit Miss Margaret Howland at Aylmer House you and me together, Little-sing the grocer and his wife together. Not a word, my love; not a word."
"It is wonderful," said Martin, "what a sight of money is wasted in this sort of thing." "But they enjoy it, don't they?" said Mrs. Howland. "Yes, my pet," he replied, "but not as you and me will enjoy Laburnum Villa. And now, Little-sing, can you attend to business?" "I have a very weak head for business, Bo-peep," was the reply.
"Of course I do," replied Maggie. Martin gazed at her from head to foot. She was plain. He rather liked her for that. He admired her, too, for, as he expressed it, standing up to him. His dear Little-sing would never stand up to him. But this girl was not the least like her mother. She had a lot of character; Little-sing had none. "You'd make an admirable accountant, Popsy," he said.
If you have been turning things over in your mind, so have I been turning things over in my mind, and the sum and substance of it all is that I believe that girl's right after all." "Right after all! But dear, dear James, the child can't live on nothing!" "Who said she was to live on nothing?" said Martin. "Don't tremble, Little-sing; it's more than I can stand.
Then, if at the end of that time she turns out what I hope she will, I will make her an accountant in the shop; it will be a first-rate post for her, and I am sure, from the way she talks, she has a splendid head for business. Now, what do you say to that, Little-sing?" "I say there never was your like, Bo-peep." Mr. Martin rubbed his hands. "Thought you'd be pleased," he said.
She has nothing whatever to live on except what I allow her, and unless she is to starve she has got to please me." Mrs. Martin might have said, had she not been afraid, that Maggie was certainly entitled to her own father's money; but it is to be regretted that Little-sing had not much courage.
Little-sing will pour out Bo-peep's tea with her own pretty, elegant hands, and butter his muffins for him, and Cross-patch in the corner can keep herself quiet." "May I go into our bedroom, mother?" said Maggie at that juncture. "No, miss, you may not," said Martin, suddenly rousing himself from a very comfortable position in the only easy-chair the room afforded.
"Hope so," said Mr. Martin. "I'm a duckle, Little-sing; ain't I, Victoria?" Here he chuckled the good lady under the chin. "Ah, and so this is Maggie? How do, my dear? How do, Popsy-wopsy?" "How do you do?" said Maggie. "Come, come," said Mr. Martin. "No flights and vapors, no fine airs, no affected, mincing ways. A little girl should love her new parent. A little girl should kiss her new parent."
"I'm in a hurry back to breakfast with my mother," said Maggie in her coldest voice. "Well, then, I will come along with you, my dear; I am just in the mood. Little-sing, she will give me breakfast this morning. I'll be back again in the shop soon after nine. It's a fine shop, ain't it, Popsy?" "It does seem large," said Maggie.
"You haven't give Bo-peep one kiss yet, you naughty Little-sing." Mrs. Howland colored as she kissed him. Of course she liked him very much; but somehow Maggie had brought a new atmosphere into the house. Even Mrs. Howland felt it. "Let's eat, let's eat," said Martin. "I never deny myself the good things of life. That girl knows a thing or two. She's a ver-ry clever girl."
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