Nelly exclaimed at the idea of selling Crummie. "And besides, granny, we should lose all we have paid already. It would be like putting seventy-five dollars right into Mr. Grayson's pocket; and I don't think we can well afford that."
"And that's true too," said granny.
"And then how nice it would be, if any of the folks from Ireland should come, to have a pretty place to see them in!" said Nelly, pursuing her advantage. "You wouldn't like to have my lord, or even his lawyer, come and find us living in a pig-pen, would you?"
Nelly was, in her own heart, rather ashamed of this last argument. But it answered a better purpose than many a wiser one. Mrs. Ryan had been all day talking with her old crony about the past and prospective glories of the Butlers; and she assented at once.
"And there's something in that too. And it's very good tobacco the old gentleman sent," she continued, filling her pipe. "And may-be, after all, he means to let us have the place, only he wants it to look decent, as you say. So just go on your own way, dear; and, as for Crummie, what she don't like she may leave."
Delighted with the permission, Nelly hastened to get her grandmother's tea ready, and then went out to milk, bestowing an extra amount of caresses upon Crummie, as some set-off for the hardship about to be inflicted on her. It was found possible to secure her in the shed, however, without tying her; and the old cow submitted philosophically to the restraint, much to Nelly's delight.
"I always said she had as much sense as a Christian," said she. "She knows it is for her good, or I wouldn't do it."
Nelly did not forget to carry her Testament with her when she went to Mrs. Caswell's with the milk; though, remembering how Mrs. Vandake had disappointed her, she did not build much upon the promise. But Mrs. Caswell was not one who made promises lightly, and when she did make one she was apt to remember it. She heard Nelly read her lesson, explained the hard words to her, and told her she might bring her book and read every night if she chose.
"Have you ever learned any spelling lessons, Nelly?"
"No, ma'am. I read the spelling lessons in the first part of my book to Kitty, but I did not learn them out of the book."