Maria did make haste, and to her wonder and disgust Dexter was seated at the doctor’s table in his workhouse clothes, gazing wonderingly round at everything: the plate, cruets, and sparkling glass taking up so much of his attention that for the moment he forgot the viands.
The sight of a hot leg of lamb, however, when the cover was removed, made him seize his knife and fork, and begin tapping with the handles on either side of his plate.
“Errum!” coughed the doctor. “Put that knife and fork down, Dexter, and wait.”
The boy’s hands went behind him directly, and there was silence till Maria had left the room, when the doctor began to carve, and turned to Helen—
“May I give you some lamb, my dear?”
“There, I knowed it was lamb,” cried Dexter excitedly, “’cause it was so little. We never had no lamb at the House.”
“Hush!” said the doctor quietly. “You must not talk like that.”
“All right.”
“Nor yet like that, Dexter. Now, then, may I send you some lamb!”
“May I say anything?” said the boy so earnestly that Helen could not contain her mirth, and the boy smiled pleasantly again.