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"I only mean it isn't any matter, Prudy." "Oh! do you? Then don't you care for my skeeter-bites? You always say, 'Never mind! I didn't know it wasn't any matter." "Now, ma," Grace went on, "I want to ask you where are those I-don't-know-what-to-call-'ems? And may I copy them, Cassy and I, into a book, for a certain afflicted relative?"
In this way they went home. "I like to sit so I can hug my sister, while she drives the horse," said Prudy; "besides, it hurts me to walk." Mr. Parlin and aunt Madge smiled at the child's speeches, but gave no more heed to this lameness of which she complained, than they did to any of the rest of her little freaks.
"I can't begin to spell the way you do. Now can you spell Cat?" "Cat? Cat?" repeated Prudy, looking puzzled. "Well, I guess I've forgot how to spell cat. But I can spell Kitty. You just hear! Kee-et, kit, kee-i-etty, kitty! I can spell the big words the best." "What think now?" said Mrs. Parlin. "The truth is, Prudy knew eight letters when she began to go to school, and now she knows but four."
Prudy's fresh delight and surprise were so pleasant to witness that her mother allowed her to linger for a while, mincing berries for the nestlings supper. When, at last, they reached Mrs. Eastman's, Prudy eagerly described the young wonders she had found. "It was like a story," said she, "of little widow-children, how the mother was dead, and the children had to stay alone."
"It's my little sister, Miss Carlisle," whispered blushing Prudy. "Mother allowed her to come to-day because she isn't coming any more. Will you please excuse her?" Smiling, Miss Carlisle was very willing to "excuse" Dotty for her sweet sister's sake. But Prudy felt rather nervous.
"Well, I didn't," said Prudy, who had got her smiles all back again; "I couldn't get home 'cause I got my feet 'most damp and some wet. I won't be no trouble, Susy." So the girls made the best of it, and helped little "Mother Bunch" up the long, steep hill. Prudy had one hearty cry before the long walk was over.
She and Prudy had each assisted in breaking the teapot; one had knocked it off the bureau, and the other had stepped on it. But Dotty, who gloried in "a fuss," had begged to be the one to tell Susy the startling news. She wished to see her eyes flash, and hear her expressions of surprise.
Gray did not think Dotty was "a very sociable child;" and then so many people were asking for eggs! But Mrs. Gray could not say "No" to Prudy; she gave her thirteen eggs, with a hearty kiss. "Now whose will the ducklings be?" asked Dotty on the way home. "Yours and mine," replied Prudy; "half and half. Six for each, and an odd one over."
So, still holding the attention of the room, he reached out a hand towards the tongs. Prudy, anticipating his necessity, caught them up, dived them into the blaze, and drawing out a blazing end of stick, held it over the pipe while he sucked away. During this pause a heavy step was heard in the passage.
Dotty looked very much interested. "What will you call the rest of your boys?" asked Prudy, glad to talk of anything which kept her little sister pleasant.
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