"No, not if we could. The girls like it here too, I am sure, if their thoughts were known, the air and the freedom are so fine. They all send their love, and will come and see you when the doctor and Constance will permit," she answered, kissing the sweet girl by her side.
"I'm sure I shall be glad to see them," I answered, remembering their pleasant ways and many kindnesses to me.
"Here is something Betty sends you, and it is her own make," Mrs. Singleton replied, removing the cover from a dish of jelly that looked like amber in the morning sunlight.
"Tell Miss Betty I'm much obliged to her," I answered, asking for a spoon that I might try it at once. For I was now hungry all the time, and my thoughts dwelt more on delicacies like this than anything else.
"That will please her, the dear child, for she is never so happy as when doing things of this kind."
"It's good of her to remember me and she may send me more another day, if she has a mind," I answered, as if in banter and yet meaning it, for such things were hard to get in Appletop.
"That she will, my dear, and bring it herself, if she may," Mrs. Singleton answered, turning to Constance.
"I hope she will, for it will do Gilbert good to see his friends now," Constance spoke up, pleased with the kindness shown me; for Mrs. Singleton and her daughters were loved by every one in Appletop, because of their kind hearts and unaffected ways.
When the dear lady had taken her departure, I said to Constance, remembering why the Singletons left Mississippi:
"Have the girls any beaus?"