[CHAPTER XXI.]
LETTIE'S RECOLLECTIONS.
"NOW ain't it just wonderful?" said Esther Forsyth, in overwhelming astonishment. "To think o' that! Little Lettie as has lived with us all this while—an' for a gentleman like yerself, sir, to be her brother."
"But how to thank you enough for all your tender care of our little lost one, I do not know," said Leveson, with moist eyes and unsteady voice. "When I think of what might have become of her, but that you took pity—"
"Twasn't no praise to me, sir," said Esther. "It's a dear child she 've been; so good an' handy with the boys; an' never giving a scrap of trouble. I don't know what I'll do without her."
"You are a mother, Mrs. Forsyth. Think what her mother has suffered all these years. And she has only one child beside."
"Lettie 'll be a deal better off," said Esther unselfishly. "It's many a day an' night she's knowed cold an' hunger, when we hadn't victuals nor fire to give her."
"I have a great deal more to say to you—much that I wish to do as a proof of our gratitude," said Leveson. "But I must leave that now till another day. I long to take the dear child to her mother. What do you think she will feel herself when she hears it?"
"Lettie? I'll call her in. She'll be main glad, if she 've sense to know her own interests. She be down now in the court, a-keeping watch over Roger—that's our half-witted boy, sir. Dear, dear, how the boys 'll ever get along without her.—But I'll go an' bring her in."