“Careful! I’ll treat ’em as if they was aiggs. An’ I’ll make the boys stan’ roun’, so’s to keep the house—well—decent!” and he made a funny, meaning face. “Je-ru-sa-lem! what a hole we had when youse come! An’ now it’s like a pallis.”
Not like the palace Dil remembered in the book that had been such a treat to her and Bess.
Everybody made it easy for Dil. Mrs. Brian would see to the boys, and Mrs. Wilson offered to keep Nelly until her return. Still, it was Friday before Dil could really make up her mind.
On Saturday Dil took Nelly and went up to Madison Square. The policeman kept out of her way; he could not bear to face her look of disappointment. But just at the last she took him inadvertently.
“You see, I’m sure he’ll come soon,” she said with a confidence that seemed like a presentiment. “’Cause he’ll be thinkin’ ’bout the Sat’day he made the picture of Bess an’ me. An’ I want him to know where I’ve gone; so I’ve writ it out. I’ve been studyin’ writin’.”
“She looks like a ghost,” the man said to himself as his eyes followed her. “She’s that changed in a year no one would know her except for her eyes. If he don’t come soon, he won’t see her at all, to my thinking. Hillo! what a scheme! I’ll hunt him up. Why didn’t I think of it before! John Travis! Seems to me I’ve heard something about John Travis.”
Sunday was a soft, cloudy day, with a touch of rain. Every boy stayed at home—you couldn’t have driven them away. They promised to give Mrs. Brian the rent every night, so as to be provided for next Monday. They sang some of their prettiest songs for her; they didn’t know many hymns, but they had a spirit of tenderest devotion in their hearts.
The boys said good-by to her the next morning in a rather sober fashion. Patsey and Owen were going to take her to the ferry. Mrs. Brian brought down her satchel, and Dil put in her white dress, some aprons, and various small matters. She was to wear her best pink gingham. Mrs. Wilson was full of hope, Mrs. Brian extremely jolly, and was sure Barnum would want her for a “fat girl” when she came back.
Dil’s similitudes were very limited, but Cinderella and the fairy godmother did come into her mind.
Miss Lawrence was in the waiting-room with half a dozen girls. She came and greeted Dil cordially, and told her she looked better already. The child’s eyes brightened with a sunny light.