She was humming softly to herself, when Biddy came out and spoke to her.
“I suppose you are thinking about to-morrow, ain’t you, little one?” began she. “Just think, you are twenty years old—quite a young lady, I vow.”
“Of course, I’m a young lady, auntie,” said the girl, “but I want Cousin Tom to treat me just the same. You know if he thought I was too big he might not take me on his lap.”
Biddy laughed softly.
“Oh, arrah,” said she with a sigh, “if the girl ain’t in love with that Tom, false whiskers and all. I wish she could see the beauty of his face without them, and she would fall in love with him all over again. Biddy Roan, if you weren’t everything that’s homely in the world you might take a turn at love yourself.”
She ironed vigorously, and then went to the porch again in answer to Helen’s call.
“I say, auntie,” said the girl, “how is Tom my cousin, on my mother’s side or my father’s?”
“Your mother’s,” said the woman shortly.
“And what——”
“Now don’t you try to pump any secrets out of me, you sly little fox; you wait until your cousin comes home; then you ask him. He’s more able to tell you about yourself than I am.”