“Where’s Mr Wishing then? He hadn’t ought to go and leave you like this without a bit or a drop in the house.”
Mrs Wishing seemed a little refreshed by the water and was able to speak more distinctly. She sat up in her chair and made a few listless attempts to fasten up her hair and put herself to rights.
“’Tain’t Dan’l’s fault this time,” she said; “he’s up in the woods felling trees for a week. They’re sleeping out till the job’s done. He did leave me money, and I meant to go down to the shop. But then I took bad and I couldn’t crawl so far, and nobody didn’t pass.”
“And hadn’t you got nothing in the house?” asked Lilac.
“Only a crust a’ bread, and I didn’t seem to fancy it. I craved so for a cup a’ tea. And I had some dried poppy heads by me. So I held out as long as I could, and nobody didn’t come. And this morning I used my kindlin’s and made the tea. And when I drank it I fell into a blessed sleep, and I saw lots of angels, and their harps was sounding beautiful in my head all the time. When I was a gal there was a hymn—it was about angels and golden crownds and harps, but I can’t put it rightly together now. So then I woke and there was you, and I thought you was a sperrit. Seems a pity to wake up from a dream like that. But I dunno.”
She let her head fall wearily back as she finished. Lilac was not in the least interested by the vision. She was accustomed to hear of Mrs Wishing’s angels and harps, and her mind was now entirely occupied by earthly matters.
“What you want is summat to eat and drink,” she said, “and I shall just have to run back to Uncle Joshua’s for some bread and tea. But first I’ll get a few sticks and make you a blaze to keep you comp’ny.”
Mrs Wishing’s eyes rested an her like those of a child who is being comforted and taken care of, as having collected a few sticks she knelt on the hearth and fanned them into a blaze with her pinafore.
“You couldn’t bide a little?” she said doubtfully, as Lilac turned towards the door.
“I’ll be back in no time,” said Lilac, “and then you shall have a nice supper, and you mustn’t take no more of this,” pointing to the teapot. “You know you promised Mother.”