"I hope he didn't mean that it paid him just to see me here doing good," Elizabeth thought, when she realized that that was what he did mean. "I don't want him thinking I'm always looking after the poor when this is the first time I ever did it."
The children crowded around her when the doctor left.
"Your mother is going to be well in a week," she told Moses. "I'm going to wash your face, Mabel—and Madget, if you don't stop crying, do you know what I'm going to do to you?"
"Spank me!" wailed Madget.
"No, I'm not. I'm going to kiss you, but I guess it would be more to the purpose to feed you. What does your mother make oatmeal in when she makes it?"
"She don't make none," Mabel said. "Can you make oatmeal?"
"I could follow the directions on the package, I guess. I can make cake."
"I want some cake," cried Madget, promptly.
Elizabeth was trying to get some water "boiling, foaming, scalding hot," according to directions, when Judidy appeared at the door, her moon face beaming over various pails and packages.
"Land o' Liberty!" she said. "You up here a-tending the sick, and me out skylarking with my feller. I brought some milk and sandwiches for the children. I guess she ain't sick much, is she?"