“Oh, no, I should not think of letting you do that yet!” the girl answered; “not if we had any quantity; and as we have none at all, you can surely lie still quite contentedly. I’ll get up now and have breakfast ready in a few minutes.
“It is only to make a few slices of toast, boil the eggs, and draw the tea. Then I’ll tidy the room and my mother and myself, and we’ll be all ready to receive our hoped-for visitors.”
“Yes; we need not expect them for two or three hours, at the very earliest,” Mrs. Allen said in reply. “Even if they lived in town they wouldn’t be likely to come before the middle of the forenoon, and probably their home is in the country, as you saw them getting out of a carriage.”
Events proved her conjectures correct; it was near the middle of the afternoon when in answer to a rap on the door Susan opened it, to find a lady and gentleman there, accompanied by her little girl acquaintance of the day before.
“Oh, yes, papa, it’s the right place!” exclaimed Lulu, in a very pleased tone. “Susan, I’ve brought my grandma and father to see you.”
“You are all very kind to come,” said Susan, blushing vividly. “Will you please walk in and take some seats?”
She made haste to bring forward the chairs as she spoke, but with a word of thanks Mrs. Travilla and the captain turned toward the invalid, asking: “Is this the sick mother Lulu has been telling about?”
“Yes, ma’am; yes, sir,” said Susan. Mrs. Allen adding, with a grateful look from them to Lulu, “But better already for the kind gifts of the little girl and boy. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I am very sure God sent them to our relief in answer to prayer. But, dear lady, won’t you be seated? and you, too, sir?” addressing the captain. “It is extremely kind in you to call on us—strangers and living in this poor and unpleasant locality.”
“It is nothing—it is a privilege, if in so doing we bring succor to one of God’s dear children,” Grandma Elsie replied, taking the wasted hand in hers and seating herself close by the bedside. “How glad I am to learn that you are one of his. I had heard only that you were ill and in want.”
“And you, too, are his, dear lady? Ah, one look into your face would tell us that.”