"You won't do anything of the kind," and Joe pulled the fat boy out of bed so quickly that he had no time for resistance.
It was seldom Plums lost his temper; but now he was on the verge of doing so because of having been thus forcibly taken from the most comfortable resting-place he had ever known.
"Now, don't get on your ear," Joe said, soothingly. "Aunt Dorcas has told us to get up, an' that settles it. We're bound to do jest as she says, 'cause all these things are hers. It won't pay to turn rusty, Plums, else we may find ourselves fired out before breakfast, an' I would like to stay till to-morrow."
"Don't you want to stop any longer than that?" and Master Plummer began hurriedly to dress himself.
"'Course I'd like to; but you see I've got to go back to the old German lady's in the mornin'."
"What good will that do? It ain't likely you can bring the princess here."
"I know that as well as you do; but I promised to be there in two days, an' I'm goin', so we won't have any talk about it."
Five minutes later, aunt Dorcas's guests were in the kitchen, where the little woman was preparing a most appetising breakfast, and he would have been a dull boy who did not understand that she must have been up at least two hours before arousing her visitors.
"It ain't right for you to wait on us jest like we was reg'lar folks, an' we ain't used to it," Joe said, in a tone of mild reproof. "Anything would have been good enough for us to eat, without your gettin' up so early an' workin' hard to cook it."
"Bless your heart, Joseph, I'm doing no more than if I was alone, except perhaps there may be more victuals on the table. My appetite isn't as hearty as it used to be; but I've got a pretty good idea how it is with growing boys."