“I’ve heard so. I’ve met a few.”
“You have? How delightful!” came the swift exclamation.
“I didn’t find it so. Why, I say?” he inquired.
“Each of us that forgot and broke over must put a penny, a cent, I mean, in the box. It must be shut tight, and the cover gum-mucilaged down. You must make a hole in the cover with your penknife, and when you screw up your face, just for nothing, you put a penny in. I’ll watch and tell you. Then I’ll put one in when I say wrong things. I’ve a lot of money in my satchel. Mamma and Doctor Mack each gave me some to buy things on the way. But there wasn’t anything to buy, and I can use it all, only for Rudanthy’s new head. Can we go buy that to-day, Uncle Joe?”
“No. Nobody knows when I’ll get out again, if this weather holds. The idea of a snowstorm like this in March. In March!” angrily.
“Yes, suh,” responded Peter respectfully, since some reply seemed expected.
“Here, boy. Carry my mail to the library. Get a good heat on. Fetch that old soft shawl I put over my foot when it’s bad, and, for goodness sake, keep that child out of the way and contented, somehow.”
Josephine had gone to the window, pulled the draperies apart, and was looking out on a very different world from any she had ever seen. White was every object on which her eye rested, save the red fronts of the houses, and even these were festooned with snowy wreaths wherever such could find a resting place. The scene impressed and almost frightened her; but when, presently, it stopped snowing, and a boy ran out from a neighboring house, dragging a red sled through the drifts, her spirits rose. It had been one long, long week since she had exchanged a single word with any child, and this was an opportunity to be improved. She darted from the room, sped to the hall door, which stood ajar for Lafayette’s convenience in clearing off the steps, and dashed outward.
Her feet sank deep into the cold, soft stuff, but she didn’t even notice that, as she cried, eagerly:
“Little boy! Oh, little boy! Come here quick! I want somebody to play with me.”