AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL.
After breakfast Vinnie left Lill to "do the dishes," and went with her box of salve to fulfil her promise to Mrs. Peakslow. Dud and Zeph were off at work with their father; and she was glad to find the mother alone with the younger children.
"Oh! you ag'in?" said Mrs. Peakslow, by the chimney, looking up from a skillet she was stooping over and scraping. "Ye need n't 'a' took the trouble. Guess Bubby's burns 'll git along."
But Vinnie was not to be rebuffed.
"I have brought some linen rags to spread the salve on. Will you let me do it myself? I wish you would; the poor thing is suffering so."
And Vinnie knelt down beside the girl who was holding Bubby in her arms.
"Is 't any o' the Betterson folks's sa'v'?" Mrs. Peakslow inquired, scraping away at her skillet.
"No; it is some I brought from the East with me, thinking I should find a use for it in my sister's family; it is good for various things."
"Better keep it for her family!" snarled Mrs. Peakslow. Scrape, scrape.
"There's plenty and to spare," said Vinnie, unrolling her rags. "And my sister will be only too glad if it can be of any service to you."