"Oh, no, I have been to school. But I am old enough to go to work regularly and mean to soon." I felt as if I would like to be a man at once, though I could give no reason for it.
"I hate to have you go." She caught hold of my hand and swung herself gently to and fro. "I like you very much."
She glanced up out of such clear, shining eyes that she seemed to fill my whole being with their light. My mother had a right to me—had any one ever really wanted me before?
"Will you come to-morrow? There is so much work to do," sighing with a fascinating air.
"I will come to-morrow," I was glad to promise.
"Let me walk down to the end of the street, and then I will turn and run back, and instead of saying good-by say 'to-morrow, to-morrow,' and just watch for the sunrise."
She kept my hand until we reached the corner, then like a fleet little fawn skimmed over the ground, never once glancing back, and I had known her only twenty-four hours.
"I hope you were well paid for your day's work," said my mother laughingly.
CHAPTER II
GETTING DINNER
"The man certainly was a fool," said my father that evening as he sat smoking his pipe. He had taken part in a political quarrel the evening before, and so did not go down to the Tremont to play cards, but read the Democrat and made promiscuous comments as he went along.