"That is a child of some character," thought Miss Powell, as she quickened her steps. "I must try to see her again."
"What a nice young lady!" said Nelly to herself, as she presently slackened her pace and went along alternately admiring and smelling her flowers and looking at the picture she still carried in her other hand. Presently she glanced at the back of the card, which was coloured a pretty pink, and noticed, to her great mortification, that her dirty fingers had already left their marks upon the paper. The lump came into her throat again at the sight.
"There it is!" said she. "What is the use of my ever trying to have any thing?" And then she stopped suddenly; for the question occurred to her mind, what was there to hinder her from washing her hands?
Full of a new resolution, Nelly walked straight into the house. It consisted only of one room, with a sort of shed or lean-to attached, and held a bed, an old but tolerably whole cooking-stove, two or three more or less broken chairs, and a rickety table, on which stood the remains, such as they were, of the morning's meal. Her grandmother sat on a low stool by the stove, with her elbows on her knees, smoking a short black pipe. Nelly had been in better rooms a few times in her life, and she felt, as she came in, how forlorn the place looked. Again she was tempted to despair; but she had thought of something to do, and she had a deal of perseverance and energy, though nothing had ever been done to cultivate those qualities. She first took a broken tumbler from the shelf, filled it with clean water, in which she put her flowers, and, placing them on the window-sill, stood looking at them with great satisfaction.
"See, granny; a'n't they lovely?"
"'Deed and they are," replied the old woman. "Where did you get them, honey?"
"A lady gave 'em to me. She gave me this picture, too. Can't you read it, granny? What does it say under there?"
"Sure, child, I've forgot all my learning, and not much there was to forget."
"Why can't I have some learning, granny? Why can't I go to school?"
"And what would become of the cow if ye went to school all day, and me hardly able to move? Don't ye worry about that, now. Your father learned to read and write too, and much good it did him."