"Now, what? Can you play cat's cradle, or casino?"
"No; I want to talk to you of Harold. You love him very much?"
"Oh, a hundred bushels—him and grandma, too."
"And he is very kind to you?"
"Yes, I guess he is. He never talks back, and I am awful sometimes, and once I spit at him, and struck him; but I was so sorry, and cried all night, and offered to give him my best doll 'cause it was the plaything I loved most, and I went without my piece of pie so he could have two pieces if he wanted," Jerry said, her voice trembling as she made this confession, which gave Arthur a better insight into her real character than he had had before.
Hasty, impulsive, repentant, generous, and very affectionate, he felt sure she was, and he continued:
"Does Harold go to school?"
"Yes; and I, too—to the district; but I hate it!" Jerry replied.
"Why hate it?" Arthur asked. "What is the matter with the district school?"
"Oh, it smells awful there sometimes when it is hot," Jerry replied, with an upward turn to her nose. "And the boys are so mean, some of them. Bill Peterkin goes there, and I can't bear him, he plagues me so. Wants to kiss me. A-a-h, and says I am to be his wife, and he's got warts on his thumb!"