“What is a settle?”
“A rough kitchen-sofa, made of boards, with a very high back. I touched his arm, and he only said, as he turned over, ‘Whoa, there—whoa!’ ‘John,’ said I, ‘we want you to tackle up the horses; my mother wants to go home, John.’
“‘Get up, Dobbin, get up, Jack,’ said John, without opening his eyes.
“‘John,’ said I, right in his ear, for I was getting tired.
“‘Oh, that’s you sis, is it?’ said John, springing up, and knocking over the old settle with a tremendous noise. ‘Bless my soul, that’s you;’ and then he burst into a loud laugh, and I found out that he had not been asleep a bit, and only did so to plague me.
“Well, we warmed the bricks again; and wrapped them up with the old pieces of carpet, to put under our feet, and I drank some warm milk, and the minister’s wife put some cookies in my bag, and tied my soft blue silk hood round my face, and as she did it, she sighed such a long sigh, that I said,
“‘Does it tire you to tie my hood?’
“‘No—no—no—no’—and then a great big tear came rolling down her cheek, and then she said, ‘There is a little silken hood like yours in the drawer up-stairs, but I have no little rosy face to tie it round now;’ and I stopped and thought a minute, for at first I did not understand; and then I said softly,
“‘I’m sorry.’
“And then she wiped away her tears, and said, ‘Don’t cry dear; you looked like her, in that little hood; but God knows better than we do—I shall see her again some day.’