“Oh! It must be lots easier to respect her pro—the way you do, than to like her; but,” with firm lips, “I've got to love her. I told Anna Belle so this morning, and especially if you want her to stay.”
“Bless my soul!” Mr. Evringham looked in dismay as his vis-à-vis. “You must be very careful, Julia, not to offend or trouble her in any way,” he said.
“All right, grandpa, I will, and then will you do me a favor too?”
“I must hear it first.”
“Would you mind calling me Jewel? You know it isn't any matter about the rest, because they're not my real relations, but Julia is mother's name, and Jewel is mine; and when I love people very much, I like them to call me Jewel.”
Mrs. Forbes here entered with a tray, and Mr. Evringham merely said, “Very well,” twice over, and retreated into his newspaper.
On the tray were boiled eggs. Jewel glanced quickly up at Mrs. Forbes's impassive face. She might have remembered. Probably she did remember.
Life had not taught the child to be shy, as has been evidenced; so although Mrs. Forbes was an awing experience, she felt strong in the presence of her important grandfather, and only kept silence now in order not to interrupt his reading.
When at last he laid down his paper and began to chip an egg, Jewel glanced at those which Mrs. Forbes had set before her. Her little face had grown very serious.
“Grandpa, do you think it's error for me not to like eggs?” she asked. “Mother never said it was. She was willing I should eat something else.”