“It’s time to get up, my dear. The sun is out looking for boys an’ dogs, an’ you mustn’t disappoint him.”
Snip ran eagerly down the stairs as if to greet some one for whom he had a great affection, and Seth heard the little woman say to him:
“I really believe Gladys was in the right when she said I would come to like you almost as much as if you were a cat. Do you want a saucer of milk?”
“She won’t talk so pleasantly when I get there,” Seth said to himself. “I’d rather take a sound flogging than have her look at me as if I was a thief!”
The lad soon came to know Aunt Hannah better than to accuse her of being cruel even in the slightest degree.
When he entered the kitchen she greeted him with a kindly smile, and said, much as if the events of the previous night were no more than a disagreeable dream:
“You see I’m beginning to depend on you already, Seth. Gladys isn’t up yet, and I’ve left White-Face in the barn thinkin’ you’d take her to the pasture. The grass is wet with dew, an’ I’m gettin’ so old that I don’t dare take the chances of wetting my feet.”
Seth did not wait to make his toilet, but ran swiftly to the barn, rejoicing because of the opportunity to perform some task.
When the cow had been cared for he loitered around outside, picking up a stick here and a stone there as if it was of the highest importance that the lawn in front of the house be freed from litter of every kind before breakfast.
His one desire was to avoid coming face to face with Aunt Hannah until it should be absolutely necessary, and while he was thus inventing work Gladys came out in search of Snip.