It was a hard journey. The old woman soon became cross and fretful, and scolded the little ones at almost every step. When Bud stumbled, as he often did, for he was unused to walking very far, Aunt Rivette would box his ears or shake him violently by the arm or tell him he was “a good-for-nothing little beggar.” And Bud would turn upon her with a revengeful look in his big eyes, but say not a word. The woman paid no attention to Meg, who continued to follow the donkey with tearful eyes and drooping head.
“IT WAS A HARD JOURNEY.”
The first night they obtained shelter at a farm-house. But in the morning it was found that the boy’s feet were so swollen and sore from the long walk of the day before that he could not stand upon them. So Aunt Rivette, scolding fretfully at his weakness, perched Bud among the bundles atop the donkey’s back, and in this way they journeyed the second day, the woman walking ahead and leading the donkey, and Margaret following behind.
The laundress had hoped to reach the city of Nole at the close of this day; but the overburdened donkey would not walk very fast, so nightfall found them still a two-hours’ journey from the city gates, and they were forced to stop at a small inn.
But this inn was already overflowing with travelers, and the landlord could give them no beds, nor even a room.
“You can sleep in the stable if you like,” said he. “There is plenty of hay to lie down upon.”
So they were obliged to content themselves with this poor accommodation.
The old woman aroused them at the first streaks of daybreak the next morning, and while she fastened the packages to the donkey’s back Margaret stood in the stable yard and shivered in the cold morning air.
The little girl felt that she had never been more unhappy than at that moment, and when she thought of her kind father and the happy home she had once known, her sobs broke out afresh, and she leaned against the stable door and wept as if her little heart would break.