“I’ll try, Mamsie; I will,” said little Davie; “I will, truly, Mamsie.”
“I know you will,” said Mother Pepper, beaming at her boys, “and Phronsie, too,—I know she’ll be good.”
“I’ll be good,” piped Phronsie, putting up her little red lips to be kissed.
So Mrs. Pepper took her baby in her arms, and gave her a good hug and a good-by kiss all at once, and then Joel crowded in between them insisting on the same attention, and of course little Davie couldn’t be forgotten. But at last the three were out on the flat door-stone, and Mother Pepper and Polly in the doorway to see them start.
“Now take hold of hands; let Phronsie go in the middle,” said Mrs. Pepper, “and walk along nicely. Be careful, Joel, don’t run—remember—” as the children went down the path to the old gate.
“Doesn’t it seem funny, Mamsie,” said Polly, cuddling up close to Mrs. Pepper’s side, “to have them go alone out visiting?”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Pepper, “but they’re old enough now. And you’re going, and Ben, too, in the afternoon, so it’s all right,” yet she cast an anxious glance after the three little figures now going solemnly down the road.
“Yes, I’m going in the afternoon and so is Ben, down to our dear, sweet Mrs. Beebe’s,” sang Polly, with a hop, skip, and a jump, getting back into the middle of the old kitchen floor. “Mamsie,” as Mrs. Pepper came in and shut the door, “isn’t it just lovely that we’re really going to supper there?”
“I wish you could have gone for all day,” said Mrs. Pepper, with a sigh, and pausing a minute before taking up her work, “just like the other children—you and Ben.”
“Well, I can’t,” said Polly, flinging back her brown hair where it tumbled over her forehead, “I’m going to help you, Mamsie—O misery me!” catching sight of herself in the cracked looking-glass. Then she burst out laughing and raced into the bedroom. When she came back, every hair was in place, and two braids hanging neatly down her back. Mrs. Pepper looked up and smiled approval, that seemed to hop right down into Polly’s heart, making it glow with comfort.