“Dear me, how singular!” said Aunt Plenty, bringing her spectacles to bear upon the pills, with a face so full of respectful interest that it was almost too much for Dr. Alec's gravity.
“Take one in the morning, and a good-night to you, my dear,” he said, dismissing his patient with a hearty kiss.
Then, as she vanished, he put both hands into his hair, exclaiming, with a comical mixture of anxiety and amusement,
“When I think what I have undertaken, I declare to you, aunt, I feel like running away and not coming back till Rose is eighteen!”
Chapter 5—A Belt and a Box
When Rose came out of her chamber, cup in hand, next morning, the first person she saw was Uncle Alec standing on the threshold of the room opposite, which he appeared to be examining with care. When he heard her step, he turned about and began to sing,
“Where are you going, my pretty maid?”
“I'm going a-milking, sir, she said,” answered Rose, waving the cup; and then they finished the verse together in fine style.
Before either spoke, a head, in a nightcap so large and beruffled that it looked like a cabbage, popped out of a room farther down the hall, and an astonished voice exclaimed,