"I'm not Mrs. Burnham to you any more," she said. "You are my little boy now and I am your mother. But wait! no; you must not call me 'mother' yet, not until the trial is over, then we shall call each other the names we like best, shall we not?"
"Yes; an' will the trial be over to-morrow, do you think?"
"I hope so. I shall be glad to have it done; shall not you?"
"Oh, yes; but so long as it's comin' out so nice, I don't care so very much. It's all so good now 'at it couldn't be much better. I could stan' it another day or two, I guess."
"Well, my dear, we will be patient. It cannot but come out right. Are you glad you are coming here to live with me, Ralph?"
"Yes, ma'am, I am; I'm very much delighted. I've always wanted a mother; you don't know how much I've wanted a mother; but I never 'xpected—not till Gran'pa Simon come—I never 'xpected to get such a lovely one. You don't know; I wisht I could tell you; I wisht I could do sumpthin' so 'at you'd know how glad I am."
She leaned over and kissed him.
"There's only one thing you can do, Ralph, to show me that; you can come back here when the trial is over and be my boy and live with me always."
"Oh, I'll come!"
"And then we'll see what you shall do. Would you like to go to school and study?"