"And you say that he is really working hard, and—and making the best of things?" asked Mrs. Tudor. She smiled a little as she said it. Geoff's "making the best of things" was such a very new idea.
"Yes," replied Great-Uncle Hoot-Toot. "Eames gives him the best of characters. He says the boy is thoroughly to be depended upon, and that his work is well done, even to cleaning the pigs; and, best of all, he is never heard to grumble."
"Fancy Geoff cleaning the pigs!" exclaimed Elsa.
"I don't know that I find that so difficult to fancy," said Frances. "I think Geoff has a real love for animals of all kinds, and for all country things. We would have sympathized with him about it if it hadn't been for his grumbling, which made all his likes and dislikes seem unreal. I think what I pity him the most for is the having to get up so dreadfully early these cold winter mornings. What time did you say he had to get up, uncle?"
"He has to be at the station with the milk before five every morning," said the old gentleman, grimly. "Eames says his good woman is inclined to 'coddle him a bit'—she can't forget who he really is, it appears. I was glad to hear it; I don't want the poor boy actually to suffer—and I don't want it to go on much longer. I confess I don't see that there can be much 'coddling' if he has to be up and out before five o'clock in the morning at this time of the year."
"No, indeed," said the girls. "And he must be so lonely."
"Yes, poor fellow!" said the old gentleman, with a sigh, "I saw that in his face. And I was glad to see it. It shows the lesson is not a merely surface one. You've had your wish for him to some extent, Elsa, my dear. He has at last known some hardships."
Elsa's eyes filled with tears, though Great-Uncle Hoot-Toot had had no thought of hurting her.
"Don't say that, please," she entreated. "I think—I am sure—I only wanted him to learn how foolish he was, for his own sake more than for any one's else even."