"Who is the princess?"
"She's a swell little girl what's lost her folks, an' I'm takin' care of her for a spell. Say, ma'am,—I mean, aunt Dorcas,—is there any work Plums an' I can do to pay for a chance of stoppin' here over to-morrow?"
"I suppose I might find enough, Joseph, for there's always plenty to be done around a place, no matter how small it is; but I'm not certain you'd be strong enough to spade up the garden, and clear the drain, even if you knew how. They say city boys are dreadful unhandy when it comes to outdoor work."
"Jest you try us an' see!" Joe cried, with animation. "We ain't sich chumps but that we know how to do most anything, after we've studied over it a spell. Will you let us stay if we do work enough?"
"I surely ought to be willing to do that much for my fellow creatures, Joseph, even though I get nothing in return; but I can't say it won't be a trial for me to have two boys around the house after I've lived alone so long. Martha, Mary, and I took care of this place, with the help of a man in summer, a good many years after our parents died, and I suppose we got fussy and old-maidish-like in our ways," aunt Dorcas said, growing reminiscent. "Martha went home to heaven seven years ago in September, and Mary followed her the next January. Since then I've been alone, and it stands to reason I'm more old-maidish than ever; but I hope I could keep two homeless boys twenty-four hours without fretting."
Then aunt Dorcas crossed the room to the mantel, in order to light another lamp, and Plums whispered, hoarsely:
"Say, Joe, what do you s'pose she put this clean towel here for? I've got custard on it, an' I'm afraid that'll make her mad."
Joe unfolded his napkin inquisitively, and looked at it an instant before he understood for what purpose it must have been intended.
Then, his cheeks reddening, he replied, in a low tone:
"She must have counted on our bein' willin' to wash our faces, but didn't want to say so right out, so put the towels here to remind us, an' I'm as ashamed as I can be 'cause I didn't think of it before."