The table was spread with a neat, white cloth, and Alice and her mother were eating their breakfast together. There were two white plates on the table, and white cups and saucers, and a smoking dish of porridge. All this Lolly could see as she stood hesitating near the door; but, in a minute, Alice caught a glimpse of her little, shy face, and ran to lead her in.
“You must have some of this nice breakfast,” said she, giving Lolly a plateful of the porridge, and pouring some milk on it from a small white pitcher.
Lolly looked timidly at Alice’s mother, to see if she might eat it; and
the kind pleasant smile she received made her feel quite at home, so that she needed no further urging.
Soon after the mother went away, and left Alice to put the room in order; and, when all things were right, Alice said “she could go with Lolly as well as not that day, and they would make a pretty place of the shabby cottage; for it was just in the best spot—so wild and shady and green.”
It was rather a sorrowful task at the beginning, and almost any other little girl than Alice would have been quite discouraged.
There was a great deal of rubbish in the sitting-room, and the floor and windows looked as if they had never known anything of soap and water. Maddie sat upon the top of a half-barrel, swinging her brown, soiled feet, and playing with a black puppy,
that was snapping at her toes; while the table was strewn with crumbs and dirty dishes from the morning’s meal, and chips and sticks and bits of rags were upon the floor.
She looked as if she had just got out of bed. Her face was dull, and her hair showed no touch of brush or comb, and her nails were long and dirty; but she jumped from her perch with some signs of shame as she saw Alice, so neat and tidy, at the door; and she began to scramble about as if she wished to make things a little better.
“May I help you to-day, Maddie?” asked Alice. “I haven’t any work at home, and I like to get things tidy. We’ll make such a room of this before night!” And, without another word, she began in earnest to bring order out of strange confusion.