He looked up from the evening paper he was scanning, smiled his usual smile of appreciation at her angel face, and said amiably:
"Well, Mrs. Bride: what is it?"
When he did not call her Pollyooly he called her "Mrs." Bride, because they had decided that "Miss" Bride did not sound sufficiently dignified a name for a housekeeper.
"Please, sir: I've got a little girl here," said Pollyooly in a somewhat anxious, deprecating tone.
"A little girl?" said the Honourable John Ruffin in a natural surprise.
"Yes, sir. Her mother's dead; and they wanted to send her to the workhouse; but she ran away," said Pollyooly quickly.
"Curious that England's little ones should fly from the home she offers them," said the Honourable John Ruffin in his most amiable tone.
"Yes, sir. And she hadn't had anything to eat and she was very hungry, so I brought her home to dinner," said Pollyooly still quickly.
"A very proper thing to do," said the Honourable John Ruffin.
"And I thought I'd ask you if she could stop here, sir—with me and the Lump—till she gets some work to do. There'd be lots of room for her, sir; and she wouldn't bother you at all," said Pollyooly in a tone of anxious pleading.