“I should love to sleep with you; but I didn’t know there was a loft. Is it a ladder or steps?” asked the child, eagerly.
“Steps. But I will show you presently. I am going to send Patsey to put Teddy and the baby to bed, but you are to rest until I come in.”
“I can put the children to bed—I always do,” replied Flossie, with a patient sigh, for her small arms and feet were very weary to-night.
“No, no; you are too tired. Patsey will do it,” said Nell, with a brisk nod. Then she hurried into the kitchen, where Patsey was just draining the last of the soup into the tin pot of a man who was a late-comer, and so had to be satisfied with what he could get.
“There is not nearly a pint, so we will charge you half price,” said Nell, politely.
“That won’t suit me at all, for I don’t want half a supper. Ain’t you got anything you can fill it up with?” said the man, sending a hungry gaze round the bare kitchen in search of something eatable.
“There are the beans—they are filling,” suggested Patsey, with a wag of his head towards the big bowl, which still had a handful or so of beans lurking at the bottom.
“Right you are, boy. Beans is filling. Shove ’em into the soup, if you please, miss, and give it a stir, then I shall have a supper fit for a millionaire,” said the man, and, tossing down the money, he departed in great content.