“You’ve brought yer house on yer back like a hoddy-dod,” she said with a grin.
Lilac clambered down with difficulty, and stood by the side of the cart uncertain where to go. A forlorn little figure in her straight black frock, clasping her mother’s large old cotton umbrella. She wished she could see Agnetta, but she did not appear. Soon her aunt and Bella came into the yard, but their attention was immediately fixed on the chairs, which Ben had now unloaded and placed in a long row by Lilac’s side.
“Where were they to go?” asked Molly.
In the living-room, Mrs Greenways thought, where they were short of chairs.
“In the bedrooms,” said Bella contemptuously. “Common-looking things like them.”
“We could do with ’em in the kitchen,” added Molly.
The dispute continued for some time, but in the end Bella carried the day, and Mrs Greenways found time to notice the newcomer.
“Well, here you are, Lilac,” she said. “Come along in, and Agnetta shall show where you’ve got to sleep.”
Agnetta led the way up the steep stairs to the top of the house. She had rather a condescending manner as she threw open the door of a small attic in the roof.
“This is it,” she said; “and Mamma says you’ve got to keep it clean yerself.”