Therefore he found it easy to receive Little Ann's proposition with favor.
“There's summat i' that,” he acknowledged graciously, dropping into Lancashire. “That's one of the little things a woman can do if she's sharp at figures. Your mother taught me that much. She always said women ought to look after the bits of things as was too small for a man to bother with.”
“Men have the big things to look after. That's enough for anybody,” said Little Ann. “And they ought to leave something for women to do. If you'll just let me keep notes for you and remember things and answer your letters, and just make calculations you're too busy to attend to, I should feel right-down happy, Father.”
“Eh!” he said relievedly, “tha art like thy mother.”
“That would make me happy if there was nothing else to do it,” said Ann, smoothing his shoulder.
“You're her girl,” he said, warmed and supported.
“Yes, I'm her girl, and I'm yours. Now, isn't there some little thing I could begin with? Would you mind telling me if I was right in what I thought you thought about Mr. Rosenthal's offer?”
“What did you think I thought about it?” He was able to put affectionate condescension into the question.
She went to her work-basket and took out a sheet of paper. She came back and sat cozily on the arm of his chair.
“I had to put it all down when I came home,” she said. “I wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten. I do hope I didn't make mistakes.”